Shattered Souls
by writerzero
Summary: Kim is happily dating someone. Ron is learning how to deal with it. Then chance encounters between him and Shego start to occur. They each bear secrets they have never shared. Secrets that define who they are.
1. Chapter 1

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

I plan for this to be a RONGO story. However, given the way my tales usually twist around on themselves who knows where it will lead. While there will be a lot of interaction between Ron and Shego right from the start don't expect there to be anything of a romantic nature until much later. In my opinion the two aren't just going to jump into a bed together. That would be unrealistic. Instead there will be a long period of time where they begin to build respect for each other, then trust, then ... Well, who knows.

* * *

_**The day begins**_

Soft moans came from the figure on the bed. Moans that chilled the blood and spoke of a nightmare that would have waken most people to a bed soaked in the cold sweat of terror. However the figure on the bed doesn't wake up, she remains deep within the nightmare. Such a nightmare would have caused most people to twist and turn as in the nightmare they ran from the terror. The figure is unmoving. She neither twists nor turns as the nightmare plays out in her sleep. Finally a clock buzzes and her eyes open. For a moment her emerald green eyes are filled with a deep despair, then, as she fully wakes, they clear. "Morning Shego." The figure speaks to herself. "Happy Birthday."

Not too far away, just a few kilometers north of her, another figure is deep within his own nightmare. The blonde hair of the figure is drenched in sweat as he violently struggles, twisting and turning to escape the source of the nightmare. Then he is still, deathly still. Not even a pulse exists to show he is still alive. For sixty-three seconds he remains in this state. Then the twisting and turning comes again, a desperate and doomed attempt to escape some dreadful fate. Then the stillness again. Eventually his eyes open, brown eyes that show a weariness he is used to. "Morning Rufus." The figure speaks to the naked mole rat in a cage just a few feet away. He stands, stretches a few times and looks in a mirror. All signs of weariness have vanished.

Ron Stoppable dropped to the floor and began a vigorous set of exercises. _Not that it does much good to try and step up now, _he admitted to himself. _But I guess it's gotten to be an habit._

* * *

Shego sighed as she entered the main room of the lair. _Another day, another plot, _she thought as she saw Dr. D working on a new invention. _Rinse and repeat, _she added to herself. "Morning Dr. D. What's up?" She asked.

"Morning Shego. It's my greatest idea yet. With this I ..."

"Where's the coffee." The bored villainess asked.

"There isn't any. Now listen to the rest of my idea without interrupting ..."

"No coffee?"

"No Shego. I needed the parts for my new invention. The world will be ... Ouch! Shego! What are you doing?"

"No coffee?" The now annoyed villainess repeated?

"No coffee." The blue figure of the mad genius wheezed out, held in the air by Shego's right hand.

"No coffee?" She repeated.

"No Shego, no coffee, now ..." His eyes widen as she lit her left hand.

"No coffee?" She asked again.

"Ahem. You know I'm pretty sure there's some around somewhere Shego. Just let me go and find it."

She dropped him and the plasma around her left hand disappeared. Throwing herself into a chair she simply repeated. "Coffee."

Drakken, deciding his life was more important than his latest invention, started ripping it apart to find the pieces of the coffee maker. _Sometimes I wonder just who's the sidekick here, _he thought to himself, not daring to say a word.

* * *

Ron walked to school alone, trailing the light of his life, Kim Possible, by fifty feet or so. He sighed as he considered the guy she was walking with. Mark Chaosson. He was, Ron knew, everything a girl like Kim Possible could want. Around six foot tall, well built, and with a knowledge of the martial arts that was exceeded only by her own. He was smart, kind, handsome, and ... Reluctantly the word 'perfect' came his mind. _He's the sort of guy she deserves, _he admitted to himself.

When Mark had first arrived on the scene, having transferred to Middleton High, things had gotten bad for a while. Kim had fallen for Mark right away and he for her. Within a week they had been a couple. Ron had flipped out. Him and Kim had ended up arguing every time they met. Eventually he had even been kicked off the missions for a while. Things had been really bad. _Not like it's all Kim's fault, _he told himself. _I was really making things bad for her. Every time we saw each other there was a fight because I flipped out. _However Kim had suddenly calmed down and just started ignoring his flipping out. She had greeted him normally, spent time with him, talked with him. _Wonder what caused her to do that, _he wondered. There had been no one to fight with then. He flipped out and she had just looked at him with those eyes of hers filled not with the usual anger, no, rather they had been filled with pity, sadness. That had been when he stopped flipping out.

He noticed her looking back at him and he knew she was feeling sad for him. That hurt. He knew he was welcomed to walk beside her on the way to school. They had mended the fence, so to speak. He was still jealous but had learned to control it. He was back on the missions. Over that she had had no choice. He knew her mother had ordered her to. _Wonder if she's figured it out yet, _he wondered. He recalled when she had first started going on the missions. Afraid she would get hurt he had went to her parents with a plan. It didn't eliminate the danger but it did reduce it. Her mother had helped with the psychology needed to implement the plan while her father had built the hardware. _They were, _he recalled, _surprised at how much of it he had implemented on his own. _He sighed. _At least first period is Home Ec. That will distract me. Wonder what I should make._

The redhead looked back at her friend of so many years. The fury she had felt at his jealousy was long since gone. Now she understood just what he was feeling. When the fighting had gone past a certain point her mother had sat her down and talked about Josh. About how strong Kim's crush had been for a boy she barely knew. So strong she had nearly lost her life over it. Had lied over it. Then she had asked Kim just how she thought Ron felt now. If Kim's crush over a boy she barely knew had been that bad then how bad must Ron's crush be over a girl he had known for over a decade. A girl he had spent so much time with. Who he cared so much about that he would risk his life for her time and time again. It had given Kim a lot to think about. She had stopped getting angry over his antics and for some reason she didn't understand those antics had stopped.

Then there were the mission. That puzzled her. She had went on so many mission and for the most part they were no big deal. But then, when the situation with Ron had got bad she had removed him from the missions. Mark, she had noted was a lot stronger than Ron and a lot better in a fight. So why did the missions get tougher with him there to replace Ron. At times a lot tougher. Something she couldn't figure out was going on there and even Wade had been puzzled by it. When she had spoke to her mother about it she had simply stated, 'put Ron back on the missions or no missions.' Her mother obviously knew something she didn't. The missions were now a cakewalk. With both her and Mark to fight, and Ron to act as the distraction, she barely had to break a sweat.

She wondered who she could match him up with. She figured if he had a girlfriend he wouldn't feel so down around her. At least she hoped that was the case. But Tara was dating someone. Same with Hope. Bonnie was obviously out of the question. Kim shuddered. Monique came to mind. But she wondered just how good of a match they would be. Besides, for some reason, Monique had sworn off boyfriends for a while. All Kim knew is it was due to some incident before she had moved to Middleton. Looking back again her heart ached, the expression on his face was so sad.

* * *

Home Ec. had come and gone. It had been the highlight of the day so far for Ron Stoppable. Using his genius in the kitchen he had made a variety of cakes. One he had even tucked inside a large plastic container to take home with him. A Devil's food cake, with a few twists of his own thrown in. He added in a thermos bottle of coffee. Something he had started drinking lately. A few forks and a knife followed the coffee.

It was last period and he was now in history class. History was something he couldn't understand. It was alien to him. Sure it would be nice if people could learn from their mistakes, but they didn't. So what was the point? The whole point of history, or so it seemed to him, was to look back at the same mistakes repeated over and over, with no one having learned anything. It was a mystery.

Kim was seated in front of him, Mark was in the seat across from her. He wondered if he should start sitting elsewhere. Sitting here, seeing her, seeing them, made him feel so low. It hurt. Maybe across the room, back in the corner. Just not here.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The noise caused the whole class to turn around and stare at Kim. He watched her talk to Wade, knowing a mission was about to start. _Hope it's close, _he thought. _Sitting on a long ride, watching those two, hurts. _He sighed, trying not to be obvious about it. Listening in he heard it was Drakken again. _Big surprise there. _And that the lair was only twenty kilometers south of Middleton. _That's lucky. Be there and done in no time._

* * *

_These vents are big, _he was thinking just thirty minutes later. _Why don't they just put doors on them and call them hallways. At least then the villains could lock the doors and try to make things a bit harder for us._ This time, he noted, the vent even had artificial lighting. Presumably to help with maintenance. He sighed.

"Anything wrong." Kim called back to him.

"Nay, KP. Just wondering what Drakken has in store for us this time."

"We will soon find out. Think this is the main room of the lair." She dropped out of the vent to the floor. Mark followed her, dropping gracefully. Ron followed him. Backpack heavy, he took it off and tossed it to one side, into a storage room, where it would be safe. _Now why did I bring that with me, _he wondered.

"Kim Possible!" Drakken uttered. Surprised.

"Oh good grief. Why do you ..." Ron and Shego muttered together. They turned and looked at each other.

The Buffoon, Shego noted, looked tired. Shego, the Buffoon noted, looked a bit more pissed than usual.

"Oh screw it." Shego said, she lit her hands and tossed plasma at the Buffoon. The fight was on before Drakken could finish his speech.

Ron dodged the green fire. He looked around for something that might need destroying. Shego, he figured, would already be busy with Kim and Mark. He saw a device in the center of the room and ran for it. Shego noticed him and tried to stop him but was kept busy.

Drakken stood in front of the machine and ordered, "Stop right there Buffoon."

Ron just ran over him, sending him flying. Working out might not have drawn Kim's attention like he had hoped but it did help in such situations. Drakken out of the way for a few seconds he studied the machine. From the shape he figured it projected a ray of some sort. He shrugged. Didn't really matter. He dropped to the floor as Shego tried to take a second to toss more plasma his way.

Drakken having got up advanced on him. "I've got you now Buffoon."

Ron tripped him and Drakken started to fall over him. Using both feet, still on his back, Ron caught the falling villain and using all the force he could sent the villain flying. He lifted nine feet into the air and fell on top of Shego.

Shego was busy with Kim, trying to keep Mark in view. He was no Kim but ould still cause trouble. Then the sky fell on her. Looking she saw it was Drakken. He looked a bit shaken. Kim approaching on her Shego threw the shaken mad scientist at her and tossed some plasma at Mark. It gave her a chance to get up.

Ron studied the machine some more. He reached out to pull what appeared to be a crystal of some sort from the machine.

Having gotten to her feet, forced the Princess to retreat a little, and having sent Mark into hiding with plasma, Shego had a chance to take in the situation. The Buffoon, she noted, was about to do something to the machine. She sent plasma his way. _Damn that Buffoon, _she thought. _How can I focus on the fight when I got to keep and eye on him too? Just what is Drakken doing?_

Ron ducked, with the crystal in his hand. Above him green plasma bathed the machine.

"Shego. Not the Gaminator." Came Drakken voice.

_What the heck is a Gaminator, _Shego and the Buffoon both thought at the same time. Shego had ignored the ranting of the mad scientist as he had explained earlier. She had no more clue than Ron did about the machine.

"Get that crystal. Shego." Came the order.

_Oh, and just what do I do about Kimmie and her new play toy while I do that. Moron. _Shego thought. She chased after the Buffoon who took off running.

Ron ran into the room where he had tossed his back pack earlier. He hit the button to close the door a second too late. Shego was in the room a split second before they could close. Foot out, he tripped her.

Shego saw the foot and knew she was going to be tripped if she didn't jump. But if she was to get into the room before the door closed she couldn't take the time to jump. She made it in time and fell over the Buffoon's foot. She rolled and was back on her feet in a second, throwing plasma at the Buffon. It hit the door. The Buffoon had wisely moved out the way during her roll she noted. Turning she aimed again. He ducked. She aimed again. He ran pass the door to the other corner of the room. The plasma hit the door again. This was repeated three times, the Buffoon running, her plasma hitting the door.

"Stand still you rodent." Shego screamed.

Ron froze. "Rodent?" He asked. "Not Buffoon? Cool! Me and Rufus are on the same level now."

"Crystal." She ordered.

"What crystal?" Ron asked.

"The one you ..." She looked at him. He wasn't holding anything. She looked around. She looked back at him. "Where is it?" Her hands were glowing.

"Oh that thing. It's out there." He pointed at the door.

She sighed. "I saw you take it. Where is it now?" _And where is the_ Princess, Shego thought,_ she should have been in here by now_.

The Buffoon shrugged. "Yeah, I took it. But you were chasing me. I tossed it away so I could run faster. I mean come on now Shego. With a plasma powered super villainess after me do you think I would do anything to slow myself down?" He looked at her as thought she had two heads.

Shego sighed, thinking. _This is not a good day. First of all it was nightmare number eight, the worst of the bunch. The one where ... And then there was no freaking coffee and now she had to deal with three bloody members of team possible. Not one, not two, but THREE!_ She sighed again.

"Out of the way." She ordered. For some reason the Buffoon obeyed her. She doubted it was the plasma in her hands. He wasn't that reasonable. She approached the door and hit the open button all the time wondering where the Princess was. The door didn't move. She hit the open button again. Cursing she sent more plasma into it.

"That will just make it worse Shego."

The Buffoon was standing close to her, looking at the door. Too close. She lit her hands to send plasma his way.

The Buffoon sighed. "Now Shego, I'm no threat to you. And since we're stuck here together can't we get along?"

"Stuck?" She queried. He pointed at the door and she looked.

"Fuck!" Was all she said before she sat down on the floor. This was a really bad day. Her plasma had fused the door shut. "Fuck!" She repeated. She noticed the Buffoon sit down on the floor on the far side of the room.

They ignored each other for a few minutes. Shego knew how it would play out. The machine wouldn't operate with the crystal gone. Goodness only knew where the Buffoon had put it. Besides Princess and her new boy toy was out there. Drakken was way outclassed. That meant Global Justice would arrive. They would cut open the door. She and Drakken would end up arrested again until she could bust them out. _Rinse and repeat. _She thought.

"Hey Shego." The Buffoon was speaking and she looked at him. She lit her hands.

"Happy birthday." He continued. "It is your birthday right? Saw your GJ file once. Hope Drakken at least got you a gift. Bonus pay or something."

Shego was shocked. Too shocked to think to throw plasma. "He usually forgets but remembers a few days later. He usually gives me some vacation time." She was too shocked to do anything but answer normally. No one had ever wished her happy birthday on her birthday. Never. Not ever. _Well it seems there is a first time for everything, _she thought, stunned.

"What? Not even a birthday cake?" She could tell the boy was shocked.

"Not all of us are as lucky as some." She growled.

The Buffoon shrugged. "Actually I rarely get a cake on my birthday but Kim's birthday is almost the same time as mine and Mrs. Dr. P always bakes two when it's Kim's birthday. It's a few days late but still nice."

"Your parents?" Shego asked.

"When they're home they remember, but they're gone most of the time. With their work they don't really need to remain home much. So they travel a lot." The Buffoon spoke as if he didn't really mind.

Ron got an idea. "Hey Shego. Close your eyes."

She looked back in disbelief. As if she would trust him. She lit her hands.

"Hey. It's not as though I can do much against you. Even if I hit you you would just hit me back harder." Ron got an evil glint in his eye. "I dare you, or are you afraid."

"Hrmph." Shego closed her eyes.

Less than a minute later the Buffoon spoke. "Open them."

She did so. She blinked. Impossible. She looked around. This was lair. It was machine parts and not much more. Not even any coffee. Bread and peanut butter was about all there was in the kitchen and this was no kitchen. It was a storage room. She had made Dr. D. pay when he failed to get the coffee maker working. There was no coffee in the lair! Yet, in front of her was a cake with 'Happy Birthday Shego' neatly lettered on it along with a cup of coffee. It had to be a dream. She looked up. This was impossible! Sort of out of place was an empty match box beside the cake.

The Buffoon shrugged. We're going to be here a while. I mean Will Du will probably lead the mission here and well ... it's going to take some time." He sighed. "I'm not going to get much Zombie Mayhem in tonight. Probably none knowing him." He sighed again.

Shego looked at the cake. It had twenty matches stuck in it. _For candles,_ she thought. _But if he can make a cake appear why not candles? _She blinked. _And the coffee! I can smell it!_ She blinked again. She looked up. "You really think I would trust this?" She was still in shock.

Ron shrugged. Frankly he was surprised Shego hadn't just blasted the whole thing with plasma. But he was bored and he liked feeding people. It was his one good skill, cooking, and using that skill made him happy. He figured he had nothing to lose. It had been a matter of seconds to take the cake he had stashed in his back pack out and rearrange the icing some to spell the happy birthday message. He took the thermos and poured out a cup of coffee. The thermos had two cups. One that screwed on the bottom and one on the top. Before Mark had come along it had been perfect for him and Kim to store something to drink in. He took a sip and sighed. It was a good thermos and the coffee was still a little hot. Not as hot as it should be, but hot enough to be good.

Shego just stared. _If it's poisoned my metabolism could probably handle it, _she figured. _I really REALLY need coffee._ She slowly took the cup. It was good. _Just where the heck did it come from? _She thought. _This is crazy. _She focused her eyes on the cake. The one other thing her metabolism needed was calories. Throwing plasma took a lot of energy. "Twenty matches?" She finally asked.

Ron shrugged again. "Well, candles are sort of hard to come by in this place." He looked around. " As for the twenty, I'm guessing that's around the age you are. That GJ document I mentioned earlier. It wasn't something I was supposed to be looking at so Will Du tried to shock me with that watch of his when he saw me with it. Didn't have much time to really read it."

"Why were you reading it?" Shego was curious.

"You're Kim's number one archenemy. I wanted to see what it said." He admitted, honestly.

Shego took the fork and took a bite. She blinked again. _No ordinary cake, _she realized. _This was five star quality! This is insane, _she thought. _How the frig did this happen?_

Ron watched her take a bit and knew she liked it. No, loved it. A sense of satisfaction filled him. Someone was enjoying something he had made.

"Didn't your brothers celebrate your birthday?" He asked. Wondering.

Shego froze. Plasma vaporized the fork in her hand. "No!" She growled. She took the remaining fork.

Ron swallowed. _Obviously not a good subject to talk about, _he thought.

Shego continued to eat. He half watched, sipping the coffee. He offered a refill from the thermos when her cup was empty and she took it without a word.

"Hey Shego."

Shego looked up.

"Just don't tell Kim about this okay. She would freak out if she knew I made you a cake." He shuddered in fake terror.

Shego felt herself trying to laugh. She suppressed the need. To her the whole situation was surreal. She wondered if it was surreal to the Buffoon. She thought not. He was definitely ... unusual. She thought of the cake and the coffee in a lair devoid of such things. _Maybe magician would be a better name for him, _she thought. _Besides the way he can make things blow up is like magic too._

"Anyway, before you finish remember to light the candles and make a wish." Ron sipped his coffee.

Shego paused. Then she did just that. It was something she had never done before.

The rest of the night passed as she figured it would. GJ arrived, lead by Will Du as the Buffoon had predicted. They cut open the door and lead her away in handcuffs designed to dampen her power. Princess was obviously glad to see that the Buffoon was all right.

Two days later a figure entered the lair. Global Justice had taken the machine along with most of the other items Drakken had had lying around. In the storage room she gathered the stubs of the twenty matches and the empty match box. _Just for a momento, _the figure thought. _Just because for once in my life someone remembered. No big deal.  
_

End of Chapter.

* * *

Note: At this point the cake and coffee are not done because Ron has a crush on Shego. He's just bored and there is cake to eat and coffee to drink, so he's thinking, why not. He's just being Ron. Kim is the one he loves. At this point he has eyes for no one else. Shego is just a coffee addict and very hungry. She is a bit emotional though that for once in her life someone remembered her birthday actually on the day of her birthday.


	2. Chapter 2

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

**Ron and Shego and the Science Fair**

Ron stared at his plate. _Even for mystery meat this is ... _He didn't have a word of describe it. He touched it with a fork, seeing if it would move. _Prodding it may not be the safest thing is the world to do, _he considered. _If it's alive who knows what it could happen. _He shuddered at the possibilities and considered he'd seen too many strange things in his short life. It gave him a very vivid imagination. He pushed the plate far away from himself and wondered where he could find food. There was no Home Ec. class today to fill the void that was his stomach. He sighed. Then he turned his eyes back to the papers he's been studying. Blueprints for one of the buildings on Middleton's Research and Development Campus.

"Hey Ron."

He looked up, it was Mark greeting him. "Hey Mark." He greeted the guy back. _No flipping out, _he reminded himself. His eyes peered around, looking for Kim.

"She's talking to the cheerleaders about a new routine. She's having lunch with them today." Mark answered the unspoken question.

"Oh." Ron answered back. Then he remembered the papers. He quickly folded them and put them in his backpack, trying to seem casual about it. He wanted no one to see that he had those. He felt a twinge of panic as he considered what he had planned for the night. _Hope there's no missions, _he thought.

"Mystery meat too disgusting even for you today, huh?"

Ron considered the question. Did it mean Mark thought he was disgusting, usually eating the stuff, or was it an actual question? "Even for me." He answered.

"Me too." Mark sighed as he sat down across from Ron. He studied the blonde haired boy closely. _Glad he's back on the missions, _he thought to himself. _Makes them a lot easier. Wonder what I was doing wrong? Still am doing wrong for that matter. _Still he couldn't bring himself to ask the question. He didn't want to do anything to upset the delicate balance that had been restored between the boy and Kim. He truly loved the redheaded girl, but he also understood Ron's position_. _He noted the overally casual way some papers that had been scattered about were gathered together and placed in a backpack. _Wonder what that's about, _he thought. The movements had been too casual.

"We're going to do some sparring this evening, after cheerleader practice. Want to join us?"

"Nay." Ron answered. Seeing those two together wasn't too good for his sanity. Besides, for once, he had plans. He suppressed to the need to gulp nervously.

Mark considered the response. He hadn't really thought the offer would be accepted. On the other hand he knew Ron was very effective as a team member and thought some practice fighting might be good. _He's obviously working out now, _Mark noted as he observed Ron's form. During the six months he'd been here at Middleton he'd observed the boy fill out and build up a lot of muscle. Still wiry, but well developed. He could guess the reason for the change.

"So, what did you and Shego do? Four whole hours in that room alone." He paused. "I think I would have wet my pants if it had been me in there. She scares me."

Ron shrugged. "We sat."

"Sat? Just sat? No fighting."

"What was the point? I knew she could beat me in an instant. She knew she could beat me in an instant. We both knew Drakken's plan had been foiled. Besides, as the sidekick, I'm probably beneath her notice. She'd rather have a serious fight."

_He still considers himself the sidekick, _Mark noted. _He considers me to be a full member of the team, so why not himself?_ He wondered what he could do to change Ron's view of himself. He sighed.

"At least tomorrow is pizza day." Mark commented. He looked at the mystery meat and shuddered.

"Yeah. But has anyone ever learned what those black spots are on the pizza? Or why they glow in the dark?" Ron asked.

Mark gulped. _Maybe it's time I started packing a lunch, _he thought. _Wonder why he doesn't? With his culinary skills he could make a lunch fit for king."_

* * *

Shego sat back in her chair, reading the latest gossip magazine. It wasn't much but as a way to pass the time it was better than listening to Dr. D. ranting. _Much better, _she thought as she ignored his voice and flipped a page.

"Shego!" The mad scientist was saying. "Shego!" Again no response. He drew in a dee[ breath and yelled, "Shego!"

The green tinted woman sighed and looked up. "You say something Dr. D?"

"Yes Shego. I said something. Weren't you listening?" He knew she hadn't been. "There's a new exhibit at the Middleton's Research and Development Campus. The SDUCHR Meteorite is there." He waved a paper in front of her, much too fast for anyone to read.

"The SDU what?" She asked.

The mad scientist sighed. "Just go to the largest building on the campus. On the ground floor there will be a rock. Get the rock."

"And you need this SDU thingy for?" Shego let her curiosity get the better of her. She knew by now that she should have known better as Dr D. launched himself into a rant that only half made sense. She sighed and went to get the hovercraft. He was still ranting as she left the lair.

It took her twenty minutes to get to the campus. _Why are his lairs always so close to Middleton?_ She thought. _Doesn't he know how much easier that makes things for Princess? For that matter why are the things he wants me to steal always in Middleton? You would think he's crushing on the Princess or something he's so obsessed with Middleton. Middleton this and Middleton that. Bleh!_ She landed the hovercraft, her mind in its own rant about Middleton.

Walking in the building she noted a front counter, empty, with three hallways leading left, right, and straight ahead. The one to the left was marked 'High Security Area - No Public Access Allowed.' She took that direction, figuring anything Dr. D. wanted had to be in that direction. The thought of getting to use her plasma to get through a bit of security made her feel good.

She was disappointed when she made the turn and found a guard sitting behind a counter. He was out cold, snoring loudly. She had no excuse to use plasma. She sighed and observed him for a few seconds. Something struck her as wrong, he was surrounded by several takeout boxes and his sleep was just a bit too deep. She frowned. There was a camera on the far wall, a little above the guard. There was a device covering it which she recognized as a miniature LED screen. _Interesting, _she thought. _Someone else is here._

The corridor took another turn and as she rounded it she saw a figure dressed in black busy working at a laptop. His back was to her. "Hey Shego. Fancy meeting you here." It said.

Shego blinked. She'd been quiet so how ... _He set up his own cameras to watch the entrance, _she realized. She studied the figure. Dressed in black from head to toe she had no way to tell who he was. _Though he seems to know me, _she thought. She considered the number of people who might greet her like that and also be in the process of breaking into a high security area. She knew a few who might break into such a place, but none who would greet her that way.

"So, what's up? Drakken send you to get something?" It asked.

_Buffoon. _The thought came to her and she knew it was insane. He wouldn't be here. Couldn't be here. For one thing he had no skills at break and entering, well other than lairs. Plus he was a good guy. A goody two shoes. There was no way he would break into such a place. No way he could. But that is the name that popped into her mind. "Buf..." She started to say.

The figure interrupted her. "Shhh, Shego. You might not mind people knowing you were here but I would rather they didn't know I was here."

It was the Buffoon she realized. Even with some device distorting his voice it was still recognizable enough for her to be sure. She sighed. That surreal feeling she often had when the Buffoon was around had returned. This couldn't be real. "What are you doing here?" She simply asked.

Ron was sweating. Of all the people he had never expected Shego to show up. Not now and here at this critical point. A mission sure. He had been expecting a mission any second now to ruin this. But Shego?" He sighed. _At least she hasn't fried me yet, _he thought.

"Just something I gotta do inside." He answered.

"I don't guess you're after the SCHR something or other meteorite?" She asked. He was using the laptop and seemed half way sure of himself. Still she could tell he was being extra cautious. _He knows what he's doing, but he's not used to doing it, _she realized. _He's never broken into a place like this but he's done his homework. Wonder how far it will get him? The security here is first rate. _

"The SCHR ...? Oh the SDUCHR Meteorite. Nay. Not actually planning on stealing anything."

"So, just what are you planning?" She asked. She really wanted to know. She wasn't bored at the moment. This was certainly out of the ordinary, even for her life.

Ron paused. "I'll tell you if you keep it a secret." He offered.

"I could force it out of you." She calmly answered.

"I know." He sighed. "Why of all times and places did you have to show up here and now? Thing is Shego if I say it here the listening devices might hear it. Sure I've got them covered and a quick look at their records won't show a sound but someone might be able to get something from them if they actually knew to look. And if they do then saying what I'm doing would give away who I am."

"You really think you can get in and out without anyone knowing?"

The figure froze. "I'm thinking a fifty/fifty chance." It eventually said.

Shego decided to be reasonable. She really wanted to see how far he could get. This was way more interesting than listening to Dr. D. ranting. Or even her magazines. "Okay, I'll keep it a secret." She agreed. "But you got to spill all the details as soon as we're out of here. I'm guessing just blasting in and making a run for it is out of the question?"

"Yeah. Don't want anyone to know I was here. That means getting in and out without setting off any alarms." Ron felt a sense relief. She was going to keep quiet. For now, at least.

"So what happened to the guard?" She asked. He might be willing to at least tell her how he was doing stuff.

"Food coma." Ron answered. "Plus an extreme lack of sleep. I sat up a speaker for the last three nights outside his apartment window and played some subsonic vibrations. Nothing he could consciously hear but it would have kept him awake. Then I swiped his lunch from his car when he arrived, so he was hungry. Then had a box of donuts delivered. He ate them and was out like a light. No drugs necessary."

"Oh." Shego thought the guard had been pretty stupid to eat the food in that situation but with a lack of sleep thinking right might not have been ... She let the though fade. She noted the three days and was surprised the Buffoon could handle a plan of any sort that took that long to implement. Still he had taken out the guard in a way that left no traces. "You know the security system?" She finally asked.

Ron nodded. "I researched it. Spent two weeks analyzing it."

Shego was shocked. Two weeks!

Ron pointed at the corridor. "They open at 6 a.m, close at 9 p.m. No way to enter when they're open. Would be spotted in an instant. To open for the morning a guard phones into a security centre getting permission. Walks down the corridor, setting of the alarm. Punches in the access code. Turns off the alarms. If the alarm goes of without the phone call or at any other time then the security centre reacts, sending more than twenty guards here. They got some pretty neat stuff here so security is tight."

He paused to take a breath and continued. "Anything heavier than one ounce on a single floor tile sets off the alarm. There are eight camera along the walls. Plus there are motion detectors. That's in the corridor. For the keypad to key in the access code you need the code, plus its DNA sensitive, plus the keyboard scans the fingerprints, plus there's an eye scanner."

Shego blinked. This was pretty hefty security. "How you getting past the cameras?"

"LED blimps."

"Huh? LED blimps?" She was curious.

"Got balloons, exact same color as the walls. No way to see them clearly. A few robotics and they are just miniature blimps. They float the LED screens in place. That's already done and seems to be working. They moved so slow they didn't register with the motion sensors."

He continued to explain without her prompting and pulled out a glove. "Got his finger prints imprinted on the gloves, plus some of his DNA which I got a sample of and cultured. Isn't high school biology wonderful. The things you learn. Also got a high digital scan of his eyes for the eye scanner. That leaves getting over the tiles. That's pretty basic work."

Ron paused. "By the way Shego are you sure Drakken said to get the SDUCHR Meteorite?"

"Yeah. Why? That isn't why you're here is it?"

"Nay. Just... Well... There's a newspaper out on the guard's desk that has an article in it about that meteorite. You might want to read it?"

"Why?" She really wanted to watch and see if the Buffon could make it past the system.

:"Well." He answered, taking out a balloon with some robotics attached. "The meteorite isn't kept here."

"But Drakken said it was." She interrupted him.

"Drakken was wrong. They do keep replicas of the meteor out in the other wings for tourists. There's a museum in the right wing. But the actual meteor isn't here."

Shego sighed. Ron hoped she wouldn't get pissed and set off the alarm. Or fry him.

"You sure." She asked. Not that she could trust him. She would have to check.

"Read the article. Pretty amazing rock, that meteor. The SDUCHR means, super high density, unknown composition, highly radioactive."

"Radioactive?" Drakken hadn't mentioned anything about that.

"Yeah. It's kept in a mine shaft in Alaska that's filled with water. Plus it's rested on an artificial diamond platform at the bottom of that shaft. It so high density it would sink right through normal stuff like steel. It might be only a cubic foot but it weighs over three hundred and twenty tons."

Ron looked up at her. "I know you're strong but there's no way you're carrying that out in your hands."

Shego growled. She left and got the newspaper. Just as the Buffoon had explained. She sighed. Dr. D. was going the pay for this. She went back to the Buffoon. The alarm system had already been fully deactivated and she had missed it. Dr. D. was going to pay.

She walked into the room beyond the corridor. Lots and lots of rooms, more corridors, and tons of equipment. Not one freaking meteor. She sighed. The Buffoon was in one of the larger room. She looked around and what she saw was ... She blinked. High school science projects! No freaking way! Just what were high school kids making these days that required that sort of security?

The Buffoon was using a small ladder and climbing above one of the projects. He removed the top from a fire alarm sensor, and put another in its place. "All done here." He simply said.

"That's it?" Shego felt that surreal sense again. Actually it had never left her. It just got worse. "Just to replace a ..."

"Shhh Shego." Ron went.

Shego sighed. She would get the full story eventually. Or she would fry him.

"Now to get out and remove all traces we were here." He smiled. "I'm guessing I now got better than a seventy percent chance of pulling this off. Assuming." He looked at her. "You keeps quiet about it."

Shego shrugged. "Give me all the details and I will."

It was still an hour, backtracking out, removing all the signs of tampering.

"You know." The Buffoon commented. "If I can get past that system I bet anyone can. I was wrong about it being tight. That's way too lax."

Shego shook her head in disbelief. They were about twenty meters from the building, hidden from it by an ordinary brick fence. The Buffon shed his black clothes and removed some padding that had altered his basic form. _If they had got a picture of him they would be looking for a guy with the wrong build. Plus between the way he had the hood and those boots he added over four inches to his height._ She let the thought pass through her mind. All in all it had been the perfect disguise.

"I'm hungry." The Buffoon commented. He looked at his watch. Three a.m. The job had taken four hours. Given how nerve wracking it had been he was weary, very very weary. And still worried over being discovered. And worried over the green-skinned supervillainess beside him. He sighed.

"Food can wait." Shego said. Her stomach rumbled. Her comet powers really did demand a lot of calories. "Wait here." She ordered. She entered the hovercraft and changed clothes. A bit of makeup to hide the green. A fancy gel Dr. D. had made that instantly changed her hair color and she had her own disguise on. She opened the hovercraft door and hauled a surprised Buffoon into it. She then set course for the nearest Bueno Nacho. It was her favorite place to eat. High calorie food with quick service.

Ron gulped as they sped over the city. The person before him no long resembled Shego at all. Instead she had a normal complexion, blonde hair and resembled nothing more than a normal young woman. They landed less than five minutes later at a Bueno Nacho. He started to drool. Food.

Inside Shego pulled him into a corner, far from the checkout, and went to get food. She lit one finger with green plasma as a warning for him to stay there. Five minutes later she was back with two platters of food. One she place in front of him the other she sat down on the other side of the table where she sat. "Speak." She ordered.

Ron grabbed the food and started munching. Swallowing, seeing Shego was impatient, he started. "Well, see there was this science competition at school. There were four main entries. Rest was just normal high school stuff. I did mine on how much a mole rat could eat. Rufus helped a lot with that." He took another mouthful of food.

'The four were?" Shego prompted.

"Justin Flanders, she's the top student at our school. Felix, well he's a robotics genius. Then there was Kim's. Between her and Mark they had a pretty good entry though nothing compared to the other two. Then the fourth was Bonnie's. That's where the problem was. She cheated." He took another bite of food.

"Cheated?" Shego thought she might like this Bonnie girl.

Ron nodded. "She sabotaged Justin's and Felix's projects. Then she hired a top scientist to help her with her own. Actually he did it all for her. So when it came to the judging Justin and Felix, who should have got the two top places, had their projects fizzle on them. With the help she had from the scientist Bonnie got top place with Kim getting second. Felix's project, even though it fizzled, got third. Parts of it still worked and it wasn't like there was much else for the judges to choose from."

"So just what were you doing there? For that matter why were projects done by highschool kids there?"

"You know the sort of projects people like Felix, or Justin for that matter, make for those competition? Trust me, that place has way too low security for those types of projects." Ron shuddered. "As for what I was doing. I was making sure Bonnie's project fizzled tomorrow when some scientists come to see it."

"How?" Shego asked, mouth still half full.

""Her project generates a lot of heat. I changed the sensor in the fire alarm. The sensor I put in is defective, way too sensitive. When she turns on her project the fire alarm will go off. Her project is pretty delicate, it will be totally destroyed. So long as I didn't leave any traces behind no one should be able to trace it back to me. The sensor is actually something that was manufactured, sold, and then recalled. They will just think it was put in by mistake."

Ron finished his tale and gobbled down food. Shego was astonished at the rapid pace the food on his plate disappeared. _He might be a match for me in the eating department, _she realized. "So you just sabotaged her project out of spite?" She asked.

"No. If hers fizzles then the judges might choose another. Justin has hers back up and running again. That means the three finalist will be her, Felix, and Kim. The three rightful finalists. I just fixed things so her cheating didn't get her anything."

"And you broke into a top security area just to do that."

"Yeah."

Shego sighed. Surreal really didn't start to explain things when he was around. She noticed he was nervous.

"Okay, I won't tell." She promised. _It's not like anyone would believe me, _she thought. _I mean, the Buffoon breaking into that place. And there's no proof. He took care of that. Plus ... _She remembered the cake.

"Hey Ron." The voice made the two of them jump. They both turned to look at the speaker.

"Monique." Ron exclaimed, surprised. "What are you doing here at this hour?"

"Was inventory day at Banna Club. Just finished up. Took all day and all night. Got bonus pay though." She smiled. "I was passing by and saw you. Thought I would drop in and say hi." She looked at Shego, eyes curious. She expected introductions.

"Ah... Um... She's..." He tried to come up with a story better than, 'She Shego, supervillainess wanted in eleven countries.'

Shego held out her hand and shook Monique's. "I'm Amy. I was just tutoring Ron here." She explained.

"Ah." Monique looked back and forth between the two. "Well I better be off." _Tutoring, yeah right! _She thought. _Ron was way nervous. I wonder if it was a date? Be nice if it was. She looks nice, even if she looks a year or two older. And it would be a sign he's getting over Kim._

"Whew!" Ron felt giddy, he was so nervous.

Shego nearly laughed at him. "Come on, Buffoon. I'll give you a ride home. The least I can do for such an entertaining night. Then I got to have a heart to heart talk with Dr. D. over sending me out to get radioactive meteorites." She growled the last part.

* * *

Ron walked into his room. Rufus he saw was sleeping. He hadn't taken the mole rat with him because if he got caught he wasn't sure what would have happened to him. He dropped to his bed. He needed sleep, but he knew the nightmare would be there again. He sighed. Nightmare or no nightmare, a person had to sleep. He was asleep in a minute. Then the twisting and turning starting. Then the stillness as death.

* * *

Shego walked into the lair.

Drakken looked up. '"Where's the meteorite?" He asked.

Shego lit her hands. Drakken gulped.

"You sent me after a radioactive meteorite!" She stated.

"Oh. Hrm. Well see ..." He yelped as plasma nearly burned him.

Shego played with him for a few minutes but her heart wasn't into it. Last night had been nightmare number four. Just like the night before had been nightmare number three and tonight would be nightmare number five. The same eight repeated over and over, endlessly, for year after year. _At least, _she thought, _tonight isn't number eight. That's the worse one. _She felt like crying. She hated sleeping.

* * *

End of Chapter.

Ron is, well, trying to make things right. He doesn't want Bonnie's project to beat Kim's. Kim is, after all, the one he would do anything for.

Shego is just bored, and the Buffoon is providing entertainment.

Wonder if Monique will spread rumors. Wonder if Kim will hear them.


	3. Chapter 3

**I do NOT own Kim Possible.**

* * *

Concerning the nightmares Ron and Shego are having. They will be the focus of a large part of the story. For now all I will say is that the nightmares are not linked. Each one is having their own separate nightmare(s) and they have a different cause.

* * *

**Ron and Shego and the Homework Sitch, or Gender Bender**

The days had passed and Mystery Meat day had returned once again to Middleton High. Once again the infamous substance had half the students packing their own lunches while the rest sneaked off campus to buy something more edible. _Figures, _Ron thought. The substance was once again extra disgusting. Too much so even for him. _This used to be my favorite part of school, _the sidekick thought to himself. _Now it's the worse. _He recalled how lunch period had usually ended with the few students who did buy the mysterious substance leaving it on their plates. He and Rufus would have a field day eating all the leftovers. _It had been heaven, _he thought.

He lifted Rufus out of his pocket and offered the noxious substance to him. The naked mole rate held its nose, squeaked "No way," and dove back into Ron's pocket. Ron shrugged and pushed the plate holding the substance away. He hated to see food go to waste but ... He shuddered. The alternative was just too much. And here he had pulled Rufus away from his attempt to beat the world record at Zombie Mayhem all for nothing.

He considered his options carefully. Make a run for it, off campus to get food, or sneak in and make use of the Home Ec. room. The school entrance he knew would be guarded by Barkin and Barkin would be keeping an eye out for him. On the other hand the Home Ec. room would be empty. Even Barkin couldn't be in two places at once and the joy of hunting down and giving detention to the hundred or so students who would be making a run for it would be too much for the teacher to resist. And he didn't really need much time to prepare something. It should be safe. Then there was the 'Book' as he called it. It would be a good time to test it out.

In the Home Ec. room he whirled into action. Chicken was fried, potato salad prepared, coffee was brewed. It was, by his standards, a pretty simple meal, but it would get him through the day. _Especially since I can eat it in class, _he thought. That is where the 'Book' came in. A week ago the library had discarded half of its books to make room for new ones. Ron had taken the largest book he could find. Large enough that it would barely fit into his backpack. He had then glued the pages together and hollowed out the book. It made the perfect disguise for sneaking food into class. He was excited. He stuffed the prepared meal into some plastic containers and shoved them into the book. Just in time as the bell rang signalling the end of lunch break.

It was only in class that he realized his big mistake. A mistake so obvious, so overwhelmingly ridiculous, that he considered it the sort of mistake Drakken would make. He had sat down in class, the Book in front of him, with the expectation of a delicious meal soon to be gobbled down only to see the whole class turn and stare at him. He had looked at the Book on his desk and then at the books on their desk. The obvious had sunk in. The class didn't use a book that large, no class did. Having it there just made him stick out like a sore thumb. There was no way he could sneak food out of the Book without the whole class watching. Reluctantly he had put the Book back in his backpack and taken out his regular book for the class. _Somehow, _he decided, _I will make it to the next meal. Somehow._ He sighed and looked up. Kim was there sitting in the seat in front of him, Mark was across from her. He forgot the meal and thought instead, _Somehow I will make it to the next class._

Shego was bored. She flipped a page in her magazine and sighed. As usual she tuned out Dr. D's ranting and wondered what to do. In the lair there weren't many options. If she left the lair then there was Global Justice. Sure she had a pretty good disguise but a tactic would only work so many times. They had a dozen potential ways to track her and if they found out she was using a disguise then they would switch to another method.

She was also pissed. Dr. D. had forgotten to install a coffee maker in the lair. She had made sure he would remember next time. She flipped another page. This time she had really made sure he would remember the word coffee. She looked at the mad scientist. He wore a collar around his neck, on it was engraved the word, COFFEE. She looked back to her magazine.

"Shego? Shego?" Dr. D's voice eventually got through to her.

"What's it this time Dr. D." She asked, wondering who's invention he would ask her to rip off this time.

"Capture the Buffoon." The mad scientist ordered.

"Huh? The Buffoon? But why?" He had her attention now.

"So I can lure Kim Possible into my trap." The mad scientist cackled.

Shego sighed. _Is he dumb or what ... _"Dr. D., you know you really don't need bait to lure Kim Possible here. She's going to arrive the second you try to take over the world whether you like it or not."

"It's my plan Shego. Do as I say." The mad scientist ignored her comment.

"Okay okay." She muttered. "Just one thing first." She lit a fist just to make sure she had his attention. "Dismantle that damned self-destruct button he always pushes."

"Shego, there's no need for that. He will be in chains."

Shego growled. She lit both fists. "Dismantle it now! Or ..." She turned and threw plasma at the wall.

The mad scientist got the idea and hastily went to work dismantling the self-destruct. Shego wasn't happy until he had completely dismantled that section of the built-in console that came with the lair, courtesy of Jack Hench.

Shego grabbed the hovercraft and left. She figured the Buffoon would be leaving school around this time. She hovered above the entrance and found out she was right. Students poured out and scattered. She spotted the Buffoon leaving alone and wondered where Princess was. A fight would have been nice. _Oh well, seems this is going to be easy. Too easy. _She thought.

Shego let the hovercraft hover ten feet above the boy and opened the door. She fired a bolt of plasma at him. Not enough to really hurt him, just enough to knock him unconscious for a few minutes. She blinked as the sidekick ducked the attack and took off running. _Seems it's a chase then. Still easy. _She dropped out of the hovercraft and gave chase.

Ron was hungry, not having eaten since breakfast. His stomach rumbled and he thought, _just a few more minutes to the house. Then food!_

Rufus was in his pocket. The mole rat was eager to get back to Zombie Mayhem. He had been spending ages the last few weeks on the game. _Poor guy is getting addicted, _Ron thought to himself.

Rufus poked his head out of Ron's pants and looked around. He wanted to see how far they were from the house so he could back to his game. He looked up and saw Shego with her arm extended about to fry his master. "Danger! Run! Ron! Run!" He squeaked.

Ron was running from the instant he had heard Rufus utter the word danger. He felt what he knew to be plasma miss his back by inches, if not less. It left his back tingling. _That was close, _he thought as he kept running, considering what to do. There was no way he could outfight Shego. In a certain environment he might outrun her. This wasn't one of them. He was going to be captured. He dodged automatically, knowing she would be sending more plasma his way. "Rufus, get Kim." He told the naked mole rat. Then as he dodged around a corner he dropped the naked mole rat in a trash can. He kept running, dodging.

Shego gave chase. She had chased the Buffon before a few times, not really giving it any thought. This time she did. She came to a startled conclusion. _He's running, but he's not running blindly. _She had always thought with his yells and obvious signs of panic the Buffoon was just blindly running. She watched as he dodged around obstacles. _He knows he can't outrun me. I'm faster. Plus a straight line would make him an excellent target for plasma. No, he's running around stuff that he knows I got to dodge too. And the dodging does slow me down a bit. Not enough for him to get away, I'm more agile. But it does slow me down. Plus if he's dodging around obstacles then it makes him a harder target for plasma. He's not panicking, or at least if he is, he's still thinking._ This was interesting. She wasn't bored any more. Or at least not as much as she had been.

Ron wished he had time to drop the backpack he had on. The weight was hampering him a little. It wasn't making a big difference but it was making some. He saw a parking lot ahead and ran for it. It was full of transport trucks. Reaching it he began to twist and turn, dodging around the trucks. Here Shego had no open view of him that would last long enough for her to aim plasma. She might see him long enough to blindly toss some his way, but not to aim it. Plus the split seconds he could dodge out of view behind a truck would help keep the distance between them. She would have to pause long enough as she rounded each truck to determine which way he had gone._ Or she could take the high ground, _he thought. He considered that possibility.

Shego leapt to the top of one of the trucks. _It will, _she thought, _give me a better view of the Rodent. _She'd decided the way he was able to dodge and keep running deserved the name Rodent more than Buffoon. She easily tracked where the Rodent was and aimed. Her plasma missed as he dodged and then scrambled under a truck. _Your mistake Rodent, _she thought and jumped. She fell back on her behind. Rising she slipped again. The ground around her was covered in grease. _My bad luck, _she thought but then remembered the Rodent had just scurried over the same spot. The grease hadn't been there then. Shego growled as she realized the Rodent must have somehow dropped some grease on the ground just as he hid beneath the truck._ That makes random jumping a bad idea, _she fumed. She looked under the trucks to see if she could spot him. She saw nothing. Either he had fled the scene, not likely in the two seconds or so she had been delayed. Or he was hiding behind the wheels of one of the trucks. She took the high ground again, leaping to the top of another truck and began her search.

Ron listened carefully. Focusing only in the direction Shego was. Soon as he heard her land on a truck roof he dropped down and slid under the truck he'd been hiding behind. He stayed there considering his options. He couldn't make a run for it. Shego would spot him. He wondered how long it would take Rufus to find Kim. He sighed. Staying here would buy a few seconds, but eventually she would look under the trucks again. It would take too long to break into one of them to hide. She would spot him in that time. He sighed again. Options were low. There was one though. He recalled camp Wannaweep and cringed. He'd learned things there other than crafts and pain. He blocked out the memories of pain. He had no time for that now. He crawled out from under the truck.

Shego searched, seeing no signs of him. She cursed. This was not the easy chase she'd expected. She heard a sound behind her. She whirl around and searched. She jumped around, from truck to truck, searching for any sign of the Rodent. She was pretty sure the sound had been close. He couldn't be too far away.

Ron listened Shego as she jumped. He drew in his breath, curled his tongue and made another sound. Just random noise, but it was projected away from him. Throwing his voice had been one of the those other skills he'd learned at camp Wannaweep. One of the counsellors had tried to teach it to the kids to entertain them. He'd been going in to be a stage magician and knew quite a few tricks. Ron had been intrigued. It was something cool he could show Kim when he got back home. Of couse he'd never done that. By the time he got back home camp had been something he hated. He wanted no memory of it. He listened to Shego continue the search, jumping again and again. He drew in his breath, curling his tongue again.

Shego was furious. Somehow the Rodent was running around the truck and crawling under it in every which way. Look as she might she couldn't spot him. She was tossing plasma bolts at the ground in pure fury hoping to drive him out into the open. Jumping again she heard a sound and looked. _At last, _she thought as she jumped. She'd spotted a bit of color under one of the trucks, as if the Rodent was trying to hide there but wasn't quite far enough under the truck to be fully hidden. Her eyes were wide, watching the ground in case there was more grease, there wasn't. She landed and dropped to the ground, hands reached out ready to grab or throw plasma as the situation demanded. She froze. There was no one there, just a tiny scrap of cloth. She'd been tricked ... pain blossomed in her leg and she whirled around, still on the ground.

Ron had tore a part from his jersey and left it for Shego to spot. Then throwing his voice he listened as Shego continued jumping around. In position he uttered the last few sounds and heard her jumped to the ground just a few feet away around the corner of a truck from him. He gave her a second and then rounded the truck, dropped a handful of grease, and kicked with all his might at the back of her knee. He heard her scream and she turned with blinding speed. He took off. Hiding again. The grease had been found in a pail a while back. Not an unusual item in these types of places.

She threw plasma as she tried to turn around but slipped on the grease. It threw off her aim. She cursed. He vanished behind the corner of a truck and she tried to jump to her feet. The grease on the ground sent her back to the ground. The fact her knee now hurt like hell didn't help any. She blasted the corner of the truck where he'd fled. This was not going the way she'd expected. Jumping around on the top of the trucks was now out of the question. Well she could, but with her knee as it was it wasn't worth it. Plus he now had the advantage in agility for running. He was, she realized, thinking at least one step ahead of her. To be outwitted by the Rodent was unthinkable.

Ron fled. He wondered how bad Shego's knee had been hurt and how far he could get. The chase wasn't over yet. She had other resources. All he could do was run and hope Kim showed up. If she did then Shego, with her bad knee, would have no choice but to give up the chase.

Reluctantly Shego called the hovercraft and it appeared seconds later. She limped in and started to search for the Rodent from the air. She wondered just how far he could have gone. She'd expected a short chase, something to break the monotony. She'd gotten more than she'd asked for. The infrared scanners of the hovercraft showed only three sources that were human sized within a hundred meters. Only one of which could be the Rodent. She was above his location in seconds.

Ron sensed a movement in the air. _An hovercraft, cloaked, _he realized. _The chase will soon be over._ He ducked under another truck, plasma burned the ground only inches away. He had nowhere to run. He knew what he would do if he were Shego.

Shego set the hovercraft to maintain a position directly above the transport truck the Rodent had hid under. She then started to demolish the truck with bolt after bolt of plasma. Eventually the Rodent would be forced out from under it. If he tried to run in either direction she would have a clear view to fry him. _Stun him, not fry him, _she reminded herself.

Actually she wasn't angry at the Rodent. She was angry at herself. She could have hunted him down using the hovercraft right from the start and had chosen not to. Shego was someone who bored easily. Chasing him down on the ground had been a way to add a bit of excitement. She hadn't expected it to be a real chase, and she had never expected to be outwitted by the Rodent. _It had been, she thought, a good chase._ It was just embarrassing to lose to the Rodent. It was sort of like playing with the Princess. Shego had decided she would only use her powers to a certain limit. What Kim Possible had seen of her plasma power was just the beginning.

Shego wasn't plasma proof. The more plasma she used the more it could backfire on her. And the more she used the more it could hurt. Shego shuddered. Having your whole body engulfed in what was basically fire wasn't fun. Her body emitted electro-magnetic forces that created the plasma. Normally it would also keep the plasma from touching her skin, but that could fail if she lost focus, or if something disrupted the plasma. When it did, she was the one who burned. She recalled how Hego had forced her to train and cursed his name.

She saw a hand reach out from under the truck waving something white. She held back on the next barrage of plasma. The Rodent crawled out from under the truck, looking only a little worse for wear. Shego landed the hovercraft next to him and ordered, "In. You're being kidnapped."

Ron stepped in the hovercraft. "Hey Shego." He said. He hoped she wasn't too mad over the knee.

Shego started to pat him down, looking for hidden devices. Wade, she knew, could cook up just about anything. But most of the stuff seemed to go to Princess or her new boy toy. She pulled off his backpack and started to toss it away.

"Hey. Those are my book, I need those for studying." Ron spoke up. It was true. He'd not just started working out physically but was also trying to improve in class. Like his physical workouts the results were mixed.

Shego looked at him. The sense of the surreal had started again. He should be cowering. Or something. Not speaking to her normally like they were ordinary people chatting in a supermarket. She sighed. She went to toss the bag out again.

"You know Shego, I'm probably going to be chained up in some lair for some time. You might as well let me have something to keep busy with."

Shego sighed again. _Oh well, what could he have? They hardly ever give him any of the devices. _She opened the bag and checked through it. Books. Nothing dangerous there. Pens and pencils. She threw the pens away. Who knew what could be in those. And last of all a calculator. That she made sure to toss out. She wondered just how wise it was to let him keep anything. She shrugged and tossed the bag at his feet. _It could, _she thought, _be a sort of thank you for a good chase._

Ten minutes later they were back at the lair. _Again, why does he build those things so close to Middleton? _Shego wondered, not for the first time.

"Hey Shego. Why does Drakken always build his lairs so close to Middleton. You know how easy that makes it for Kim?" The Rodent asked.

Shego sighed. _Even the Buff... Err, Rodent, knows that much,_ she thought. She kept quiet.

Drakken looked up as Shego dragged the Buffoon into the lair. "You're hurt Shego? You're limping?"

"I banged it in the hovercraft door." She explained.

He blinked. "The hovercraft door. How did that happen?"

"Shutup and never mind." Shego growled.

She lit a fist and Drakken wisely went back to work. She heard the Rodent suppress a snigger as she gave her explanation. "Quiet!" She ordered and dragged him to a cell. She tossed him inside and chained him to the wall. He had enough chain to move a little. _Enough to sit and do homework, _she thought. She left him and headed to the kitchen. All the plasma she'd used demanded calories. A lot of them. She sighed. Most women had to diet to keep their figure, she had to eat like crazy. Not that she minded, usually. But in the last few lairs the kitchen had not been well stocked. In fact all this lair had was more bloody peanut butter and bread. Same as the last one. She sighed.

Ron sat in his cell. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. That collar Drakken had been wearing with the word COFFEE on it was ... He sat down and snorted, trying not to laugh too much. He didn't want to bring Shego in, plasma flying. Then he remembered. Coffee, and not just coffee. He quickly opened his book bag.

Shego munched on one of the ten slices of bread she'd put peanut butter on. Drakken was busy at something, muttering about sex. She was pretty sure she didn't want to listen to Dr. D. talk about sex. _Might as well check on the Buffoon and see how he's doing in captivity, _she decided. She had also decided to forgive him for the embarrassment of outwitting her. _Bad enough to be outwitted by a Buffoon, let a lone a Rodent, _she added, thinking to herself.

She reached the cell door, opened it and peeked in. She froze. She blinked. She slammed the door shut again. _Not real, I'm hallucinating, I didn't see that, _she screamed to herself. She opened the door again and peeked in. She close the door again. _Not real. I checked his bag. I patted him down. _She looked at the bread and peanut butter she had. _Lack of decent food is driving me around the bend. That's it. _She opened the door again. There sat the Buffoon, drinking coffee, munching on a chicken leg, with a book spread out in front of him. He was reading the book, muttering something about integration and derivatives. He looked up. Shego felt that sense of everything being surreal increase again.

"Hey Shego! Want a chicken leg? There's also some coffee and potato salad. Help yourself." He went back to reading.

Shego sighed. _If it's a dream, _she decided, _at least it has coffee in it. _She went over, sat down across from the Buffoon, poured herself a cup of coffee and grabbed a chicken leg. It was good. _Not your usual fare, _she thought. _Herbs and spices that create an unusual flavor but it works. And it's fried to perfection. _She took a sip of coffee. It wasn't a blend she'd had before but it was also exceptionally good if a little too cold. She held a finger over it and soon it was hot. She looked up. The Buffoon was looking at her. It was as if he was pleading for something.

"What?" She asked.

Ron held out his cup.

Shego blinked. Oh, she realized. She held out a finger and soon his cup of coffee was nice and hot too._ So he can make food appear out of nowhere, but he can't warm a cup of coffee. That, _she noted, _just makes things seem even more surreal._

She looked at the book he was trying to read. It was math of some sort. It didn't look like high school material. The Buffoon seemed to be having trouble with it.

"That what they teaching in high school these day?" She found herself asking.

"Sort of. Kim is in the advanced class so those are the classes I end up taking too. She gets straight As most of the time while I got to struggle just to get a pass." He sighed. "Of course she's got to work for those As, stuff is tough even for her. Only Justin and Felix ace everything."

Shego sat thinking. _So the Buffoon is in the advanced class. Why does that surprise me? He can build doomsday devices for crying out loud. Question should be why isn't he acing the stuff like those two he mentioned, Justin and Felix._ The educator in her was curious. She did after all have a degree in education and psychology. She studied him some more.

"So you can break into a top security area with no problem and build a doomsday device no problem, but math has you stumped?" She finally asked.

Ron shrugged. "Those two things were just luck. Only thing I'm good at is cooking. I can look at a recipe once and remember it word for word. Every degree and every measurement. But anything else and I'm lost." He sighed. "Don't guess it's a big deal. I mean I am going to be a chef. Still be nice to get good grades and not be thought of as an idiot."

Shego thought for a few moments and then grabbed some paper and a pencil from his supplied. On it she wrote:

_Buffoon and Rodent Recipe_

_- bake coffee at 147C_

_- boil tea at _99C

- _stir paper and rinse, baked at 200C_

_- peel potatoes, dice, boil at 174C_

...

She wrote fifty lines of nonsense. She held it in front of him, keeping hold of the paper. "Read." She ordered. She counted to sixty and removed the paper. "Recite." She ordered. To her amazement he did so. The recipe was nonsense, just random items she'd thought of with temperatures. Yet he recited it all, word for word. _Unbelievable, _she thought. _He remembered well over a hundred details, the items and the temperatures, in a minute. _She let the paper fall to the ground. _And he thinks he's an idiot. _She remembered Zorpox and shuddered. _Same brain, same knowledge, same capacity, _she realized.

"When you were planning the break-in how did you organize it?" She asked.

"I just studied all the plans and then wrote down all the details. It really made my head hurt. Ended up writing everything down step by step. Sort of like I do for a recipe."

Shego nodded. "So when you do homework, handle it like you would a recipe. How are you at history?"

"Terrible." Came the reply.

"So write down all the details you need to learn like you would a recipe. You should then be able to memorize it. What was on that paper was gibberish, yet you remembered it no problem. It should work the same for any subject. Then try to understand it the way you would a recipe. Try it with the math you're doing now."

Ron thought for a few seconds. Then he started writing, starting with 'Recipe for the Chain Rule.' It took him an hour too fully think it out and write it down as a recipe. But it made sense. For the first time since he'd started calculus the Chain Rule made sense. He blinked as he read through what he'd written and realized that.

Shego saw the understanding in his eyes. _I wondered if he can make more coffee appear, _she wondered and pushed the thought away. That way lay madness. "Now apply it." She ordered.

Ron did so. It took five minute to do homework he had thought would take five hours. _And like a recipe, _he realized, _I won't ever forget it. I know this now._

"Shego. Kim Possible is here." The voice came from somewhere and they both looked up.

"Guess I better be going, Buffoon." She said. "Thanks for the coffee."

"Be seeing you again soon Shego. Thanks for helping with the homework. That recipe trick really works." He smiled at her, and began to gather his stuff together.

"Won't be seeing me too soon Buffoon, those chains are titanium, as is the door." She took off. The whole time she'd been in that room things had seemed surreal. She shook it off. The rest had her knee back to almost a hundred percent and she had Princess to fight.

Ron looked at a binder. He sighed. It couldn't be helped and he started tearing it apart. Soon he had two long, thick, wires. He took two erasers and punched a hole through them. Looking at the electrical outlet in the cell he wondered just how much voltage it had. _Enough, _he hoped. He took off his belt, something he'd only started to wear recently, and wrapped it around his wrist inside of the chain. Soon he had a very crude cutting torch and, he hoped, enough protection not to electrocute himself with what he was about to try. He didn't. Five minutes later the cuffs on both hands were gone. He'd considered the time but knew this couldn't be rushed. He put the badly burned belt back on. It really helped with certain mishaps he was famous for.

He looked at the door and sighed. _Do idiots make these lairs, _he wondered. The hinges were inside the door. _Right where a person can get at them, _he thought. He went to the cot in the cell and started ripping at it to get at the spring. He ended up needing his cutting torch again to cut the wire, not having anything else to use. He was very aware of the time passing.

All in all it took him fifteen minutes to get out of the cell. _Way too long, _he knew. _Wonder how it's going with KP._

He peered into the main room of the lair and gasped. There were at least forty synthodrones in the lair. _No wonder we didn't see any on the last few missions, he was saving them up for this._ Kim and Mark he saw were both tied up in a corner. With forty synthodrones plus Shego Drakken had had overwhelming force this time around.

Drakken was cackling evilly about his Gaminator 2.0 which resembled the machine from the last mission they'd had against Drakken. Ron wondered what it did. Drakken's rambling was really hard to understand. He also noted the dismantled self-destruct device and sighed. _That would have been too easy._ The backpacks the two carried for missions was close by the door, right beside him. _Lucky, _he admitted.

He wondered if Rufus was around. He tapped two fingernails gently on the floor. No one could hear that, but to a mole rat used to underground lairs it was entirely different. The little guy came running, keeping out of sight of the two villains. Taking Kim's laser lipstick out of her backpack he gave it to him and told him, "free them." Speaking as low as he could. The naked mole rat nodded and took off.

Both Shego and Drakken had their back to the door he was in. He moved into the open and waved. Mark saw him. Ron put a finger to his lips indicating 'quiet.' Mark pretended not to see him, staring instead at Drakken and Shego. Ron could see that the corner of his eye was on him though. He tried with crude sign language to get him to understand they weren't to move even when Rufus freed them. He hoped they understood. Even if they were freed with forty synthodrone and Shego to fight they would just be captured again in less than a minute. He watched as Mark whispered to Kim.

The dismantled console with the self-destruct was out in the open, just behind Drakken and Shego. They were focused on whatever contraption it was that Drakken had built. Ron crept to the console and studied the ruins. If Shego turned even a little this way she would spot him. He gently sighed and kept low and tried to be as quiet as possible.

He studied the console. He had an innate understanding of machines. It was something he had only started to realize recently but it was true. Where it came from he wasn't sure. Maybe from being around the tweebs as Kim called them. They made enough inventions that maybe some of that ability had rubbed off on him. Or maybe it was all the doomsday machines he'd seem. Or maybe ... It didn't matter. He studied the console and had a basic understanding of how things should work. The two wires leading out of the wall was where the signals would be sent to the destruct device that was somewhere in a lower level of the lair. Basic.

He began to rewire it. The console had had dozens of functions. He only needed to put one back in order and even that one just enough to get it to work once. It took four minutes. When it was done he sighed again. All he needed to do was press a button. Even he could do that.

But ... He sighed. _Curiosity killed the cat, _he told himself. He stood up and cleared his throat. Both Drakken and Shego nearly banged into the ceiling as they jumped.

Shego whirled around. The Buffoon was there, not more than eight feet from her. Things started to seem surreal for her again. That cell had been practically a solid box of titanium. _At least the self-destruct doesn't work, _she noted to herself. _This is as close as Dr. D. has even been to actually succeeding._ She went to lit a hand to toss some plasma his way but the Buffoon held up his hands, she held off on the plasma wanting to see what he had to say.

Drakken pointed at him and said. "Buffoon." As thought he were surprised. He too held off doing anything else as Ron spoke.

"You know Drakken, in all that rambling you never did really come out and say what that machine does." He saw Kim watching him surprised. He was glad she was staying still. He hadn't been sure if she would just get up and attack Shego. She was like that. Focused.

Ron pointed at the Gaminator 2.0. "Just what does it do?" He asked.

"It's a Gender Bender." Drakken said, as if that answered everything.

Ron sighed. He looked at Shego as if asking her to explain.

She shrugged. "Don't look at me. I never pay attention to his ideas anymore."

Drakken sighed and spoke as if talking to children. "It changes people's gender." He said.

"What?" Everyone in the room spoke at the same time with the exception of Drakken. Kim and Mark, still didn't move. Ron guessed they were as shocked as he was.

Shego went pale. "Dr. D. Are you saying if you fire that machine I will turn into a guy?" She didn't seem too pleased with the idea.

"No no no, Shego. It won't do that." Drakken exclaimed, obviously puzzled why no one could understand what he meant.

Shego breathed a sigh of relief. It was short lived.

"It just switches ones gender identify." He paused wondering if he should it explain more. '"It makes straight people gay and gay people straight." He finally said.

Shego, not to mention everyone in the room with the exception of Drakken, were froze in shock.

Finally Ron turned to Mark and said. "Dude, please be gentle with me."

"I'll try." Mark spoke back, nearly in a whisper. He wondered how Ron could joke in such a situation.

"Like hell." Shego tossed plasma at the machine.

"Shego what are you doing? Stop that. Besides it's totally one hundred percent plasma proof. I've had too much stuff destroyed when you got angry over some trivial matter." Drakken wondered why Shego was so upset, after all the world would soon be theirs. He pressed a button and the machine started to glow.

Drakken cackled. "In two minutes everyone's gender will be switched. In the confusion I will take control of the world."

Kim and Mark were on their feet ready to fight. Shego had her hands lit again. Obviously a fight was about to start. Ron cleared his throat again. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Hey Shego?" Ron asked. "You mind if I destroy that?"

She shook her head in a daze. If anyone could break the machine she knew it was the Buffoon. "Go ahead." She stepped out of the way.

"Hey Shego what are you doing? The world is ours!" Drakken was confused.

Ron pressed the self-destruct. The countdown started. TWENTY, NINETEEN, ...

Shego stared at the console, at the self-destruct button on it. She thought she was in love with that button. And the sound of the countdown.

Ron cleared his throat again. Again everyone looked at him. "Shouldn't we all be running right now?"

* * *

End of Chapter.

Ron is still cooking great food, Shego still feels things are surreal when he's around. She only helped with the homework because to her it was a curious problem to pass the time on. Besides she had great food so she was in a good mood. She gets bored a lot.

Not much dialogue with Kim or Mark, but this chapter ended up way longer than what I had expected. Other chapters will have more concerning them.


	4. Chapter 4

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

More of Kim and Mark in this chapter. Along with Monique.

* * *

_**Ron and Shego, Learning to Cook Together**_

Ron watched the two, holding hands, walking, talking. _I really should leave either five minutes earlier or five minutes later, _he told himself. Kim looked up at Mark and flashed a brief, but blinding, smile at him. _Why do I torture myself, _Ron wondered.

_On the bright side, _he thought,_ I'm not worried about exams today. _At Middleton High Barkin taught most of their classes. He had no compunction about scheduling four or five exams on the same day. For the first time in his life Ron Stoppable felt ready for those exams. He had spent the last week and a bit putting the technique Shego had taught him to good use. He had rewritten many of his notes. Time had not allowed him to rewrite them all. He figured he would get at least eighty-five on each exam. Seventy percent from the notes he had rewrote and at minimum he would get half of the remaining thirty percent right. That expectation of succeeding felt good, really good. He smiled to himself, content if not happy.

Kim, taking a brief look back saw that smile. It made her feel good. Her friend it seemed wasn't hurting as much today as he usually did. She wished he would walk together with them, but then again she understood why he didn't. She wondered how he would do on the exams. She had tried to get him to study with her but he had refused. She had even offered to study with him alone, leaving Mark to his own devices. Mark she knew would do fine on the exams. _So would Ron, _she thought, _if he bothered to apply himself. Maybe he did. He's been studying more lately and over the last week he's been nonstop looking through his notes, rewriting them. _She crossed the fingers of the hand Mark wasn't holding.

* * *

Ron sat in the cafeteria flicking the black bits, that actually glowed in the dark, off his pizza. Studying the pizza he decided it was now safe to eat. He dug in. Kim and Mark were sitting across from him. Kim he noted was looking at the plate before her with fear. A very unusual look for her. Mark on the other hand was being reasonable. He just pushed his plate across the table towards Ron. He had way too much common sense to eat the daily special.

"I wonder why they call it the daily special?" Ron wondered out loud. "They only serve one item a day."

"Marketing reasons?" Mark suggested.

Kim sighed, admitting defeat. She pushed her plate across the table towards Ron. _Falling out of a plane with no parachute, no big_, she thought. _Eating that. No way!_

Another plate was slid his way and Ron looked up to see who it was from. "Monique." He greeted.

"Hey Monique." Kim and Mark greeted her as well.

"BYASKOCTET", the cute girl answered, speaking to Ron. Then she added, "Boy you are some kind of crazy to eat that." She turned and greeted Kim and Mark. "Hiya all."

"It's safe." Ron replied. He was pretty sure it was.

"How you do on your exams this morning?" She asked. From Kim she already knew Kim and Mark felt they had done pretty good.

Ron shrugged. "Between eighty-five and ninety on both."

The eyes of both both girls widened. Finally Monique spoked, "GTAPGTYGH?" Everyone looked at her. "Guess that's a pretty good tutor you got, huh?" She explained.

"Tutor?" Kim asked. She looked at Ron. "Who?" She was curious. In all their years together she had never managed to get Ron to take his school work seriously.

It took Ron a second to figure out who Monique meant. He gulped. "Just someone who helped me study once." He explained.

Kim noticed his nervous expression. _There's more to this than just a tutor, _she thought. She looked at Monique.

"Ya high, green eyes, blonde hair. Called Amy." Monique explained to Kim, raising her hand to indicate height. "Not a student here." She added.

Kim looked back at Ron.

"Hey. It was just one study session, okay. No big deal." He tried to be casual and bit down on some pizza. The taste instantly told him it was from a piece that still had some black pieces. He screamed. "I ate the black pieces, I ate the black pieces, ..." In a panic he spat the piece out and grabbed some water.

"SYSTIS?" Monique asked. She was hiding a grin. "So you still think it's safe?" She explained.

Ron sat back and sighed. He studied Monique. He wish she hadn't mentioned that _tutor. _Still it was no big deal. It wasn't as if anyone would ever figure out it was Shego. Not in a million years.

Kim and Monique looked at him.

He shrugged."I'm going to find a place and take a break for the rest of lunch period." He said. "I'm not feeling too well." It was the truth. He knew the girls would think he was interested the tutor, and that he had zero chances. For some reason that bothered him. Kim was the one he loved. But from their reaction he knew they considered any sort of romantic relationship for him to be a laugh. A joke. It hurt.

"He never gets sick." Kim mentioned, staring at the pizza. She was worried. She wondered just what the black bits were and if she should follow him to make sure he was okay.

"Not the pizza." Monique spoke. She wondered what she had said to have such an affect on him. To her Ron had appeared extremely sad. She had never seen a look quite like that on his face before.

Kim paused. "You think he's interested in her?" She asked.

"Maybe." Monique answered. "But I'm not sure." She added. "Doubtful." She concluded. She was puzzled.

Ron sat in his seat, still two exams to go. He sighed, wishing he could skip. Of course Kim would be mad at him if he skipped, exams or no exams. He recalled the time he had asked every girl in Middleton High out and had been turned down every time. That had ... hurt. He just wasn't sure why it was upsetting him now. He knew how to roll with the punches.

"You okay?" Mark asked him, studying him carefully.

Ron shrugged.

"You're not interested in that tutor? Are you?" Mark asked. He knew the answer. Ron had eyes only for Kim.

"Nay." Ron truthfully answered. He looked at Mark. He knew If Mark had asked any of those two hundred and fourteen girls out the answer each time would have been yes. He sighed.

Ron had just finished his last exam when the Kimmunicator beeped. He listened to Kim and Wade talk. It seemed Dementor was up to something again. Ten minutes later they were on a transport jet, courtesy of Global Justice. Ron pretended to sleep during the trip. He wasn't sure why he was feeling the way he was.

They landed with no problem and soon entered the lair. There were no traps, no obstacles at all. Not even a single henchman. It was as though they were being invited. Actually, that was the case.

"Kim Possible!" Dementor exclaimed as they entered the lair. "About time. I've been waiting."

"Whatever your plot is Dementor it's over now. Give up." Kim was ready to fight.

Dementor smiled. "Meet my new henchmen." He said and pointed to the corner. In it were what looked to be five synthodrones.

"What are you doing with synthodrones?" Kim asked. "That's Drakken's technology."

Ron frowned, looking at the synthodrones. Something was off. He just couldn't tell what it was.

Dementor grumbled. "That bumbling fool. Don't mistake my technology for his." Actually Dementor had, after Drakken had stole his technology a few times, decided to repay the favor. He had stolen five synthodrones.

"What's your plan this time?" Kim asked.

"Nothing big." Dementor admitted. "This is just a trap to get rid of you. Once you're out of the way there will be nothing to stop my world domination."

"Five synthodrones won't stop me." Kim declared. She had already analyzed the situation and was prepared to fight. Forty plus Shego might overwhelm her, five was hardly a workout.

Ron listened to the two speak as he studied the lair. In each corner he spotted a device that looked out of place. They just didn't fit in with the rest of the items in the lab, each which seemed to serve a purpose. That meant those devices served a purpose he didn't know about. He studied them. They looked like they might be transmitters. _Radio transmitters, _he wondered. He studied them some more. _No, _he concluded, not radio, the shape and size is wrong, microwaves._ But the purpose..._

The fight started. Kim launched herself at one of the synthodrones with a kick that would have disabled one of Drakken's. Not only did this one remain standing, it counter attacked with astounding speed. It's reflexes was three times as good as one of Drakken's. Kim barely made it out of the way. She launched herself up into the air and away from the one she had attacked. The five followed her.

Machines, Ron knew, is what synthodrones were. But machines had limits. In synthodrones there were three limits. The size of the power supply which determined the strength the synthodrone had. Then there was the power of the computer used to direct the machine. In a synthodrone that was artificial brains. It determined how fast a synthodrone could analyzes the situation and react to it. And then there was the material it's skin was made of. That affected how hard it was to damage one. The five fighting Kim had had all three of those drastically improved.

Kim launched another attack and was barely able to dodge out of the way as the machine responded. Her reflexes, superhuman as they were, was seriously being put to the test.

Ron sighed. In all the two hundred plus missions Kim had been on he was about to use something he had only used six times. The device he had made with the help of the Dr. Possibles. It had been designed with living opponents in mind, but machines weren't too much different. He pulled a small rod from his pocket. It worked with the same principle as throwing one's voice. That was where he got the idea from. He secretively pointed the rod at the machines and suddenly there was a slight change in their behavior. The machine emitted subsonic vibrations. In a human it would cause the sensation of being stared at, as though there was someone behind them. That distraction in a fight meant the person would try to divide their attention. In a well matched fight that was fatal. The machine would also cause slight confusion. It was simple. It was devastating. It was also designed to be undetectable. An opponent who knew about the machine would simply design a countermeasure. That was why Ron used it so sparingly, and why not even Kim or Wade knew it existed. A trump card, used as a last resort.

Machines on the level of a synthodrone weren't too different from a person. It analyzed the opponent's move and responded accordingly. That response depended on the programming of the synthodrone and how fast their processor was. The machine Ron used didn't just emit any subsonic vibrations. Those vibrations were based on Kim's voice. To a synthrodrone's audio receptors it made it appear as if Kim Possible was all around it. This caused the machine confusion. It had to reprocess the visual data, it had to recheck the audio data. It would find itself doing this three or four times, causing the machine to slow down and even misaim its attacks and neglect to dodge when it should.

By Ron's estimate those machines would have cornered Kim in less than thirty seconds. As things stood now she had maybe five minutes. He studied the fight more, there was no way any technology could pack that sort of power into a synthodrone. The machines moved back and forth across the floor, Kim Possible launched attack after attack, making no progress. She still had to dodge out of the way as the machines counterattacked, sometimes even before she could finish her own attack. And the material the synthodrones were made of seemed especially tough. Her attacks had no affect. He could see the concentration on her face. She could read the fight as well as he could, probably a lot better. She was too focused to be worried. That was the Kim Possible he knew. Was probably one of the reasons he loved her.

He studied Mark. Mark he knew could handle a single synthodrone without too much effort. As a fighter he was outclassed only by Kim. He knew better than to challenge those machines head on. He was standing back, throwing stuff at them, trying to distract them. _He's trying to play the distraction, _Ron realized. _That's good, it's giving me time to think._

He noticed one of the strange microwave transmitters in a corner move. He studied it. It moved again. As did one of the others. Suddenly it all made sense. He picked up a small book on a desk near him and tossed it at Mark. The boy whirled around, surprised at the attack that had come from behind him. Ron pointed at one of the transmitters, he mouthed the words 'destroy them.'

Mark whirled around at the attack, only to see Ron looking at him. The guy had him confused, he had been, during the whole fight doing nothing but standing there. He took notice of where Ron was pointing and from the expression knew Ron wanted them destroyed. The machines looked tough. It would take a lot to destroy them. He looked around and spotted a desk.

Ron watched as Mark lifted a desk, struggling to lift it. It was, he knew, something he could never have hoped to lift. Left to his own devices he would have had to find another way. It would have taken time that Kim might not have had. He sighed, appreciating that Mark was there.

The transmitter burst into flames as Mark, running at full speed, smashed the desk into it. The change in the synthodrones was moderate. They slowed a little. Mark lifted the desk again and charged another transmitter.

"No, no, no!" Dementor screamed. "He pointed at one of the synthodrones and then at Mark. "Stop him." He ordered.

Two of the transmitters were now destroyed and the synthodrones were moving slower. Still one would be more than enough to keep Mark from his goal. Ron moved into action. He kicked a chair, tripping the synthodrone. It flipped to its feet but Ron had already kicked another chair. It went down again. As it rose a third transmitter had been destroyed. The synthrodrones were now moving at a speed that was still faster than normal, but not the blinding speed they had once had.

Dementor was still shouting "No, no, no, ..."

Mark lifted the desk for a fourth time. Ron kept kicking chairs, tripping the synthodrone that was trying to target him. Soon the fourth transmitter was burning. The synthodrones were now moving a lot slower, less than half of what was normal for a synthodrone. Kim was still attacking them. She no long had to dodge out of the way with any speed. Rather she could launch two or even three attacks before she was forced to jump back. She could, Ron knew, keep this up for a long time.

Mark struggled to catch his breath. That desk had been heavy. Very heavy. He studied the situation. Even he now knew what had been going on. Somewhere there was a generator generating megawatts of powers. That had been where the synthodrones had been getting their power. Those devices had been beaming it to them via some method or other. And the same with the processors driving them. Somewhere there was a computer much more powerful than anything the synthodrones could carry inside of them. That computer had been using the transmitters to direct them.

He continued to study the synthodrones. _Why were they so tough though, _he wondered. He came to the same conclusion Ron had some time back. Power and speed had been sacrificed so they could carry extra armor. The transmitters had made up the difference plus a lot more. He studied the one that was still chasing after him and, imitating Ron, he kicked a chair at it. It went down. He glanced at Ron who was looking around the lab, obviously searching for something.

Ron was looking for something sharp. Fists and feet obviously weren't going to hurt the synthodrones. He sighed. "See anything sharp?" He asked Mark as he studied the situation. Kim was still keeping four of the machines busy. Dementor had fallen into a rant about something. The fifth machine was still going after Mark but a series of chairs was keeping it occupied.

Mark looked around. This was a lair. There had to be something. There was nothing. He looked at the desk he had used earlier. Ramming them with that might do the trick but his strength had its limit. There was no way he could lift that again, let alone five more times.

"Kick the legs off the desk." Ron asked. He'd seen where Mark was looking.

Mark did so, using three karate kicks. Three he realized were all they needed. He took one, Ron took one, and Kim flipped in and grabbed one. They each charged a synthodrone. The spear Mark had ripped through his opponent just enough to cause green goo to suddenly pour out. It slowly sank to the floor. Kim's opponent went down faster, gushing a fountain of the green goo. Ron's opponent took only a scratch and kept on fighting, a trickle of green goo ran down it.

Ron sighed as Kim and Mark rushed to new opponents and took them out while he was left having to attack this one a second time. The second time did the trick and it sank to the ground a lot slower than any of the others had.

Ron, Mark noticed as they took the transport back home, was in a funk. He wondered if it was from whatever had affected him earlier that day or from the fact that Kim had at first mistaken Mark as the one who had found and handled the secret behind the synthodrone's unusual abilities. He had fixed her mistaken assumptions, pointing out that Ron had found the secret and that he had just taken orders.

* * *

Ron walked into his house an hour later. He was still in a funk. He checked in on Rufus. The rodent was playing Zombie Mayhem as if his life depended on it. Ron wondered if there were any groups offering counselling for addiction to the game. He wondered how they would react if a naked mole rat joined the group. He was sure Rufus would need one soon.

He walked back to the kitchen. On impulse he picked up the phone and called Monique.

"Hey Ron." Came the answer. Monique he knew had caller-id. Something his father thought was a passing fad.

"Hi Monique." He responded. Then he added, "Want to go out with me friday night?"

There was a long pause as he knew the girl was in shock. "Sorry Ron." She answered, still sounding shocked.

"Oh okay." He hung up.

A few seconds later the phone rang. He ignored it and left the house. If he were to cook super he needed supplies. Besides while he thought Monique was perhaps the most attractive girl in school he hadn't really expected her to say yes. He had, he now knew, just wanted to hear her rejection to analyze it. Other than the shock of the question there hadn't been the slightest hint in her tone that she would ever think to say yes. Not in a million years. Not in a billion. Not if he were the last guy on earth.

In the supermarket he started grabbing things. Turning a corner he ran into ... He gulped. _Flee, _his brain told him. There was Shego, dressed in ordinary clothes. Her hair was blonde again and there was no sign of the green tint to her skin. He ignored his brain. He walked past her, saying, "Hey Shego." As if it was an ordinary everyday meeting at the supermarket. He was soon five feet, then ten feet, then fifteen feet from her. He rounded a corner and sighing a breath of relief he took off for the checkout counter. Anything else he wanted could wait.

Shego saw the Buffoon and knew he would soon start screaming and give away her identity. She searched her mind frantically for a way to keep him quiet. Plasma she knew would do the trick, but that would defeat the whole purpose of keeping him quiet. Instead he just walked past her greeting her! Things started to seem surreal again. She sighed. She wondered why someone who could make food appear out of nowhere needed to go shopping at all. She shrugged, pushing the thought aside. As for herself, Dr. D. had remembered the coffee this time but had stocked the lair with just bread and peanut butter to eat. She had taken the risk of shopping for the simple reason she needed real food. She decided to hurry the process just incase the Buffoon decided to call Global Justice.

They both rushed down different aisles, turned a corner and saw the same checkout counter. They both rushed towards it. The result was entirely predictable. They collided with a crash that drew the attention of everyone around them for twenty feet. They both froze.

"Hey Shego." Ron calmly said. Inside he thought, _please let my death be quick and painless. _

Shego looked around. Everyone was staring at them. She stared at the food in her cart. She could make a run for it but what if something happened to the food. She ignored the Buffoon and calmly took a spot in the checkout line.

Ron stared in disbelief. She wasn't going to fry him. He wondered what to do. He shrugged and took the spot behind her.

Shego was intensely aware of the Buffoon behind her. Ron was intensely aware of the villainess in front of him.

Common sense wasn't Ron's forte. After a few minute he cleared his voice. "Hey, Shego."

Shego froze. The Buffoon was speaking to her. She looked at her cart, she couldn't afford to lose the food. Keeping calm she turned to see what he wanted.

"Was Drakken bluffing with that device of his last time? I mean, come on, what was he thinking?" Ron asked. _Curiosity kills the cat, _he knew.

Shego looked around. She wondered if it would be better to ignore the Buffoon or answer him. If she ignored him who knew what might happen. He might ask in a louder tone. This was a supermarket for goodness sake. People could overhear them. Finally she decided to answer. "It was for real. He sort of forgot he would get hit by the ray too. He's like that, if you haven't noticed." She kept her tone calm and low. She recalled that she did have the Buffoon to thank for not being Gaminated, as Drakken called it. _Which brings to mind, _she thought to herself, _just why did that self-destruct button work._ Since he'd asked a question she decided to ask hers.

"Oh." Ron replied. "Drakken rambled on and on so much I had plenty of time to fix it."

"Oh." Shego responded. "So you can't handle math but you can fix a dismantled self-destruct?"

Ron grinned. "Thanks to you Shego I think I aced my math test this morning. Or at least did pretty good. I rewrote my notes like you taught me. Stuff makes sense now and I got perfect recall for all of it." He beamed at her, forgetting for a second that she was a supervillainess.

"That's nice." She wondered why she, a villainess, had done a good deed. She looked at the food in his cart then at hers. Hers was all microwave food while his was the basics used to prepare home cooked meals with. She knew who would be eating better tonight. She sighed.

"Something wrong Shego?" Ron asked.

She wondered if he was genuinely concerned. Her brother, Hego, had been pretty good at _pretending_ concern for her in public. She shrugged. "Nothing."

They spoke nothing else to each other and ten minutes later they were both on their separate ways.

* * *

Ron moved around the kitchen. His hands moved like lightning, chopping, stirring, ... He vaguely heard the phone ring but ignored it. An hour later he sat down to a meal, alone. He looked around the sterile kitchen. He had cleaned up the mess before sitting down to his meal. It was spotless. And empty. He shrugged and dug in.

After eating he took a thirty minute break and then performed his exercises. Rufus all the while was frantically playing Zombie Mayhem. He even ignored the cheese Ron offered him. Ron was worried and wondered how the little fellow would cope with a counseling group. He would have asked Kim about it but while the fence was mended he didn't want to bother her.

After his exercises he went out in the back yard. A practice dummy was there. Something Kim had given him over a year ago and he had ignored until Mark had come along. He took a kick at it and fell on his behind. He tried a punch but somehow the dummy flipped him. How it did that without even moving he had no clue. He stood up ready to try again.

Laughter distracted him. He turned to see Shego watching him, sitting in the door of her hovercraft. She was laughing so hard she fell out.

_Just great, _he thought, not really feeling like running.

Shego for her part had headed back to the lair and microwaved a half dozen microwave meals. She had ate them all. It filled her but ... She sighed. She took the six empty boxes and tossed them into the air one by one. She vaporized each one before they could hit the ground. She looked around. She was bored. Tonight was going to be dream number eight. She shuddered. The worst of them all. She looked at the microwave and wondered what the Buffoon was eating. From the stuff in his cart she knew it was better than what she'd just had.

She wandered into the main room of the lair and watched Dr. D. work. He was muttering happily. So long as he had some contraption to work on or some scheme to plot he was happy. She envied him that. She left without taunting him.

She hatched her own little plot. _Just to pass the time, _she told herself. _Because I'm a villainess, _she told herself. She took the hovercraft and headed for Ron Stoppable's house. If he was out she would break in and steal whatever was left of what he'd cooked. If he was in she would just take it anyway. She was after all a villainess. She knew the plot was pretty lame. Maybe Princess would show up and they could fight. That aspect of it appealed to her.

She hovered over his house, watching the fight with the dummy from the hovercraft door. Seeing the Buffoon get flipped by a dummy she broke down. It was hilarious.

"Hey Shego." He said as she stood up. "You here to kidnap me again?" He sounded tired.

Shego ignored his question. She stood up and brushed the dirt off. She pointed at the dummy and asked, "Just what was that?"

Ron shrugged. "Me making a fool of myself. Thing is there are times I'm okay in a fight, sort of, but other times it's like that. It comes and it goes." He shrugged again, clearly not happy.

"So sometimes you can throw a decent punch?" She asked.

Ron nodded.

Shego studied him. _The Buffoon, _she thought, _was one pile of mysteries. One contradiction after another. "_Try the punch again." She ordered.

Ron did so. He got flipped by the dummy again.

Shego studied the way he moved. He had, she noted, filled out a lot lately. He had plenty of muscle. He also had good reflexes. She felt humiliation. This was the Buffoon who had forced her to use a hovercraft to hunt him down. Who had got in a decent strike on her. How could this person who couldn't land a punch on a dummy do that? She was puzzled. She sighed. "You can cook." She asked, finally, having given the situation a good ten minutes of thought.

Ron had stood there watching the villainess. He had wondered if he should make a break for it. Finally she spoke, asking that question. He simply nodded.

Shego ordered Ron into the house and then into the kitchen. She searched through the fridge and took out two dozen eggs. She put them on the countertop with a large bowl. "Break the eggs." She ordered.

Shego stepped back. The Buffoon whirled into action. She was stunned. His hands moved so fast she could barely follow them. It took by her count around eight seconds before all twenty-four eggs had been cracked. She looked into the bowl, there was no sign of eggshell. He had, she noted, speed and agility. A lot of it too. So why couldn't he land a punch?

Make an omelette she ordered. She watched closely. There was no wasted movement. He was quick, sure, and precise. Inhumanly so. Few people she knew could move like that.

She took the omelette when it was done and headed back to the dummy. The Buffoon followed her. She ate as she talked. "You know Buffoon. You got amazing reflexes. You got plenty of muscle. So landing a punch should be easy. Given it's a dummy you're trying to punch ... She shook her head in amazement."

"I'm just clumsy." He answered.

She felt he believed that. She held out the omelette. "This says otherwise." She countered.

"It's just an omelette. Anyone can make one."

"Not with the speed you did. Not with the skill." She countered again.

He shrugged. "So I got one decent skill."

Shego sighed. She took another bite of omelette. It was insanely delicious. Too delicious to have been made by the Buffoon. She was puzzled. She sat on the ground, eating, as she puzzled the situation over. _I should be frying him, _she thought to herself. Instead she just took another bite.

"Okay Buffoon, lets try to think this out. You got extreme agility when cooking, but no agility when fighting. So what's wrong with that picture?"

"He stared at her blankly."

She sighed. "Agility doesn't just appear and disappear. Either you're agile or not. You are."

Ron decided not to argue with the superpowered villainess sitting in his backyard, calmly eating omelette. This was he thought, surreal. Shego was thinking the same thing.

She thought of something. If he could learn by using the concept of recipes then ... It was so insane she thought it might work. "Think of fighting as cooking." She ordered.

"Huh?" He looked at her as if she had two heads.

She couldn't blame him for that. What she was thinking was insane. "You know how to move when cooking. So pretend you're cooking. See the fight as a process of cooking or something. Write down the instructions of how to throw a punch like you did with your homework. Then try to carry it out as if it was a recipe you were doing and not a fight."

Ron went into the house and came back out with a book labelled, 'How to Fight in Ten Days or Less,' and a pencil with a piece of paper. _I should have taken the chance to run for it, _he realized. He opened the book and started reading. Rereading the instructions several times he tried to write it down as a recipe. Finished he stood up. He reread the paper several times even though he knew it by art from the time he had written it. He studied it and imagined how he might make such a recipe. He dropped the paper to the ground beside the book and pencil.

Ron approached the dummy, his mind focused on what he was doing as recipe and not a fight. He landed a perfect punch. He tried it again, with the same result.

"Okay, Buffoon, this is just too weird. I'm off." She left for the hovercraft.

Ron spoke without thinking. "Why did you come here in the first place Shego."

She pointed to the empty plate on the ground. "Food." She left.

Ron was left speechless. Then he thought of something. _She complimented me. Several times!_ He was stunned. For him compliments were few and far between.

* * *

End of Chapter.

Why the phone call to Monique? Ron is just wondering how others see him. From Monique's reaction/tone he knows somewhat of just what his position is with his female friends. It may also be a sign he's accepting he has no chance with Kim. If Monique doesn't even pause in her response, he knows his chances with Kim are zero.

We also see Ron now expects good grades. Once he has some practice with that recipe method who knows, he might give Justin a run for her money as top student.

And Shego teaching Ron to fight? Really. And in such a bizarre manner.

We see Shego is still easily bored. That along with food is why she sought out the Buffoon. We see one hint that Ron is lonely. He no longer has Kim to spent so much time with.

We also see for the first time the device that Ron made with the help of the Possibles. Rarely used, a trump card of last resorts.


	5. Chapter 5

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

Timeline: I see the first four chapters as having taken place over a month. The current chapter is around a month after the previous one.

* * *

_**Ron and Shego and Food, or the Cuddle Bunny**_** Threat**

Ron recalled the first night Shego had paid him a visit. It had been surreal. He had, in a daze, rewrote four more moves from the book he'd been studying into the form of a recipe and practiced them. He had managed each move flawlessly on the first attempt. That had been pretty surreal in itself. His practice sessions with the dummy never went well.

That had been the first night. She had dropped by several nights since then. Each time she'd cleaned out the fridge, and then helped him practice. He was at a loss on what to do. She was a villainess wanted by Global Justice. She was Kim Possible's archenemy. He should be on the phone calling them. He wasn't, and he didn't plan too. He wasn't too sure why, but he liked her visits. Sure they were sometimes painful. She would watch his attacks on the dummy and give advice. He might be able to perform the basic moves right from the start, but there was more to fighting than just that. When he failed to follow her advice she was pretty free with the plasma. Thought, he noted, not vicious. It was more like a slap across the wrist with a ruler to focus his attention. And her tongue was sharp. But there was an upside. She complimented him when he succeeded in following her advice and she complimented his progress. She also complimented his food. All in all there were a lot of compliments. She was someone who said what was on her mind. He liked that.

His exercise routine had also changed due to her advice. She had pointed out that certain muscle groups were of more use in a fight and had taught him exercises to develop those muscles. They were by far more strenuous than what he had been doing before. After nearly a month his body was only just getting used to them, still aching a little.

He had talked with Monique. His question had confused her, she knew his obsession with Kim. He had tried to evade her questions but no one could really evade Monique when she set her mind to interrogating them. He had ended up pointing out his reason for the phone call. He could tell she'd been shocked. He had expected her to be upset, in a way he had been just using her, but she wasn't. He wasn't sure what she thought, but she hadn't been angry. That had been a relief.

The worst part of the last month had been Barkin. Seeing Ron get an average of eighty-eight on the four toughest exams he'd ever given he'd been suspicious. The only students who had managed better grades had been Justin, Felix, Kim, and Mark. He had, in front of the class accused Ron of cheating again and demanded Kim use the Kimmunicator to scan him for hidden devices. None had been found. Still unshaken in his belief that something was wrong he'd had Ron strip down to his boxers, in front of the class, and retake the exams. This time he'd scored an average of ninety-four on the four exams. He had had time to rewrite more of his notes as recipes and had understood the material better.

Unable to prove him guilty Barkin had declared him guilty anyway. Then Felix along with Mark, Kim, and Monique had stood up for him. That had been pretty nice to see. They had demanded Barkin prove the cheating or else let Ron keep the grade, the ninety-four, not the eighty-eight. Barkin had, reluctantly, backed down. A grateful Ron had thanked them.

That brought him to his current situation. Trying to power a living plasma generator had wrecked his food budget beyond repair."I need money." He mumbled to himself.

"How much?" Came the reply from Mark.

Ron looked up. Mark was taking out his wallet. "No." Ron answered. "I mean I need a way to make money. Finances this month are a bit stretched." He might have in the past allowed Kim to be his main financer at Bueno Nacho but that was a thing of the past. Besides this time he needed major cash. Not just the price of a Nacho. And Mark was his competition even if no one else saw it that way.

"A job?" Mark inquired.

"I guess." Ron answered. Given school work now took a lot less time, and he had practically given up on Zombie Mayhem, he had quite a bit of time to spare. Still, it wasn't an idea he liked. His focus on his exercise routines and trying to learn how to fight had him surprised. It took up a lot of that spare time. "I wonder if Smarty Mart is hiring. Could get weekend hours only."

Mark put his wallet back. He wouldn't have minded lending Ron a few bucks but it seemed the guy was thinking of serious cash. He wouldn't make that at Smarty Mart. They only paid minimum wage. "Sell lunches at school?" He suggested. With his culinary talent he knew Ron could make the lunches pretty quick. Plus they would make a good profit.

Ron shook his head. "Since the health inspector saw Rufus serving food the school made a new policy. It prohibits anyone from selling food on campus. Other than the cafeteria workers that is. Heck, Barkin even confiscates any lunches I make for myself."

"Oh." Mark replied. He gave it some more thought but came up empty. With his skill Ron could have easily prepared twenty or so lunches each morning. With the only competition being the cafeteria food he could have made a fortune by setting his own price for them.

Ron looked around. No Kim. "She talking to the cheerleaders again?" He asked.

"Yeah." Came the reply. "They're going to be doing some pretty tough routines and they're having a safety talk. I'm going to have to be the catcher for them incase one of them falls."

_Lucky guy, _Ron thought. _Though Kim never falls so she wouldn't be one of the ones he would need to catch. _

* * *

Shego wondered what was on the menu for the day. It was insane, she knew, to visit the Buffoon like this, but it was fun. Fun was a concept she had thought she had long lost the capacity for. The closest she had come to that in years was fighting the Princess. But having to set limits to the power she used against Princess sort of took most of the fun out of it.

The Buffoon however provided laughs in his sometimes hilarious attempts at learning a new routine. He provided good food. And there was even, at rare times, conversation. Safe topics though were hard to come by. It wasn't as if she could talk about Dr. D.'s latest plan or like he could disclose Wade's newest gadget for Kim Possible.

His progress had her surprised. He had learned in a week the basic moves of boxing. With her directions he had learned how to use those moves and throw combinations. Hard work might let a person be competent in boxing in around six months. By her judgement the Buffoon had been considerably more than competent at the end of a week. He had moved on to karate. He had the basic moves down pat and by her estimates would be the equivalent of a first dan in less than another week. It was, in her opinion, insane.

She justified the insanity by considering that he had been around martial arts ever since he met Princess. In all that time he had seen the various forms of martial arts used repeatedly. With his ability for perfect recall he must have remembered all of it. He must know all that Princess knew and more. Something just blocked him from using it. She remembered Zorpox and shuddered. Zorpox had not been blocked from using those abilities.

Then there was the recipe method. Insane as it was it worked. But she had noticed something lately. At first he had had to reread the various instructions he was translating several times. Lately those several times had dropped to just the first time. He no longer needed to reread anything to write the recipe. She figured soon he wouldn't need to write to a recipe at all. His mind would automatically do the translation for him.

She was a little frightened. When he had full control of his potential just what would Ron Stoppable want to do? Zorpox had wanted the world, well the world's supply of Nachos anyway. But what would the Buffoon do with that power? She considered the type of person he was. Not anything evil, she decided. That was a little disappointing.

She let the hovercraft hover over his house for a few minutes and searched for signs that his parents were home. There were none. They had been home once in the last month, as far as she knew. She had called off her visit that day. It seemed his parents were rarely around. She watched him practice. The original dummy had long since fallen to pieces and she had replaced it with one of her own. His attacks had not only improved in form but in power. For his size and build he was extremely strong.

She let the hovercraft hover a few feet above the ground and jumped down. She saw him throw a combination with a form that was slightly less than perfect. She threw a ball of plasma his way. Not enough to hurt, just enough to get his attention. She was surprised it hit. He had become very adept at evading her attempts at correction. "Come on, Buffoon, you know better than that. Focus."

"I do now." Ron replied, rubbing the hand where the plasma had hit him. He grinned at her.

Shego almost felt like grinning back. She was getting too used to this. It didn't just feel surreal when she was here, it felt ... nice. It was way better than spending time in the lair watching Dr. D. as she read magazines on fashion or fighting. _Of course, _she thought to herself, _if he ever develops his full potential Team Possible will be unstoppable. Just why am I training the enemy?_

She ignored the thought and headed into the kitchen. She made a beeline to the fridge. There were several plates of food wrapped in plastic. She took one of them and put it in the microwave. A few minutes later, plate in hand with a mug of coffee, she headed back outside. The Buffoon was sitting on the ground, reading a book, writing down a new recipe. She watched him as he continued his practice, all the while thinking.

She saw him head back to the book and pick up the pencil again. "Stop." She ordered. "Forget writing it down. Just read and do the translation in your head."

"Writing it down helps me focus." He commented. Hesitant to put down the pencil.

Shego fried the pencil and the paper with two well aimed blasts. The boy gulped and just grabbed the book. He reread the instructions a few times but she figured in a day or so he would be back to reading it just the once again. And eventually, as he got used to it, would do the translation as fast as he could read. She wondered if then he would just need to read a book to learn a new skill or routine. It was scary. It wasn't just that he could learn something by reading it once. It was as though his body learned the skill as well as his mind. It developed the reflexes that usually only came with hundreds of repetitions.

She dug into what was on her plate. It was delicious. The coffee was some brew she'd never had. Yet again, delicious. For some reason she was content. She knew in a few hours this would end. She would go back to the lair where Dr. D. would be rambling on about some plot. Where when she tried to sleep nightmare number two would be waiting for her. But for now, she was content. Teaching had been her dream, and here she was teaching. For a brief period of time she could forget the nightmares and she could forget Hego. She saw him make a mistake and she raised a finger, plasma burst from it. He dodge it. _Excellent, _she thought. She gave more orders. Sometime the information in the books wasn't quite right. It taught an art, not fighting. She dug into her food again. She didn't mind that everything seemed so surreal.

He read another page of the book and went back to the dummy. This time, she noted, he only read the page twice. He repeated this a few times over the next hour. She was on her third plate of food and second cup of coffee when he stopped and sat down beside her, keeping a safe distance between them.

"Hey Shego?"

"Yeah, Buffoon."

"What's a good way to make money?"

"Rob a bank." That she thought, was an easy one. "Or you could try a jewelry store. I used to steal art but that's too easy to track. Your client can't display it, or if they do then someone is going to ask where they got it. Leads directly back to you. Or you could steal technology. People who buy that are usually pretty secretive."

"Hrm. Any way that's not illegal?"

Shego shrugged. "I'm a villian. Legal stuff really isn't my department."

Ron sat back, relaxing as best he could given the situation. It was the sort of answer he'd expected but had asked anyway. It wasn't too unsafe a topic."_ Of course, _he thought, _it's as though what I'm doing here is legal. Calling GJ would be the legal thing to do._

"Of course there are competitions. I used to enjoy those but if I try to fight now there's always someone in the audience calling Global Justice to cash in the reward money for me."

"Competitions?" Ron was intrigued.

"Yeah. Fighting. It's a bit out of your league yet but at the rate you're going..." Shego shrugged. "A year max and you'll be able to make good money there." _Most likely less than a year, _she thought to herself. She looked at the plate. She was out of food. She sighed.

"Doesn't really sound like my sort of thing." Ron admitted.

"It's good practice if you've got a job that requires keeping your fighting skills honed." She stared at the plate again and sighed."You going to practice any more tonight?" She asked.

"Nay. Was up early. Did three hours then. Had two hours before you got here."

She'd been there an hour. _Six hours, _she thought, _on a day that includes school. He's pretty focused. _"Bueno Nacho?" She asked. She saw him hesitate. Realization struck her. _Money, _she thought. "My treat." She added.

Ron readily agreed. Bueno Nacho wasn't a place he spent much time at any more. For one thing it reminded him of Kim. For another he was focused on stepping up and eating the type of food they served would be counter to that. At least it would be in the large amounts he used to consume. As a treat it was fine.

They took the hovercraft. It was, Ron thought, a pretty nice way to get around. Quick and no worries about the traffic.

They entered the same Bueno Nacho as they had been at before, all those weeks ago. Shego ordered for them and brought the two trays back to the same booth they'd been in before. They both dug into the food with glee.

Ron noticed the girl at the counter watching them closely. For a second he wondered if she was checking him out. Then Shego uttered a sigh of satisfaction, having finished what was on her platter, and stretched. From the dreamy look on the girl's face he knew it had been Shego she'd been watching. Not that he blamed her. Shego, even with blonde hair and dressed in every day clothes was attractive. Not that he would ever say that to her face. He liked his body parts arranged as they were, in their proper place.

Ron sat back in his seat and sighed, recalling Monique's instant and total rejection.

Shego looked up. Something had upset the Buffoon. She wondered what it was. He hadn't blinked an eye at all the insults she'd thrown his way the last month. "Something wrong?" She asked.

Ron shook his head. "Just life." He wondered what she would say if he told her about the girl checking her out. _Probably nothing, _he thought. _She would just be amused._

"Hey Ron, hey Amy. What's up?"

They both turned and looked. Monique again. "Hey Monique." Ron managed to squeak out. He noticed the girl at the counter was now eyeing Monique. He focused his attention back on Monique, she was the problem now. _It's not as if she will ever figure anything out, _he thought to himself.

"Hey Monique." Shego spoke, remembering the girl.

"Another study session?" Monique asked. She looked around for books. There were none.

Shego shrugged. "I guess you could call it that. We were studying and decided on a break."

Ron was still struggling, trying to think of something to say. He was glad that Shego was so good in such situations.

"Don't suppose I could hire you?" Monique asked. "The way Ron's marks improved was amazing."

"Not something I can take credit for." She answered, still calm. "He just decided to start applying himself and viola, his grades improved."

"What brings you here Monique?" Ron managed to squeak out.

Monique studied her blonde haired friend and he shrank back in the booth. Something was definitely out of the ordinary. "Just heading home from my shift at Club Banana." She answered. "Mind if I join you?" She asked. She sat without waiting for a response. She was curious why Ron was so nervous. Sure he was nervous around most girls, the exceptions being her and Kim, but why would her seeing him with a tutor freak him out. She studied the blonde haired girl closely. The blonde haired girl studied her back, her expression calm and amused. At least Monique thought she was amused.

"So no chance of hiring you?" Monique spoke again to the blonde girl.

"Sorry. My schedule is sort of filled." Shego didn't blink an eye.

"Too bad." Monique did sound disappointed. Ron had after all went from average grades to a ninety plus. This girl it seemed could work miracles.

Ron looked at the few bits of food left on his plate. He had, he discovered, a very rare condition. No appetite. He looked everywhere except at Monique. The girl at the counter he noticed was still watching them.

Monique followed his gaze and noticed her. "Seems like someone is checking you out Ron." She winked at him. It would, she thought, get some response.

"Sorry Monique. It's not me she's checking out. It's you." Ron answered the question without pause. It was an easy question.

"Me!" The response hadn't been what she'd expected.

"You." Ron simply agreed with her. His mind wasn't able to process too much data. He was focused on how to get out off there without giving any more hints to Monique that Amy was a supervillainess who could toss plasma around.

"Oh." Was all Monique could think to say. She looked at the girl at the counter who noticed her stare. The girl blushed and turned away, pretending to be busy. It didn't help Monique any. She was interested in Ron's weird behavior. She sighed. "You tutor a lot?" She asked Amy.

"Rarely." Shego answered. She was amused by the Buffoon's panic but also knew there was a reason for it. Being discovered with a supervillainess could get him in trouble. A lot of trouble. Which would ruin all the meals he cooked for her. And she really wanted to see how his fighting skills progressed.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Ron and Shego nearly hit the roof. Ron pulled the Kimmunicator out of his pocket as if it would bite. _What if it's Wade asking why I'm with Shego, What if it's Wade telling me Global Justice is on their way to get me, What if, ..._ He flipped the device on, being sure to keep Amy out of Wade's field of view and asked, "What's up Wade?"

"Got a hit on the site. Already alerted Kim and Mark The ride will pick you up in a few minutes." The image on the screen explain.

"Okay Wade. I'll be ready." He knew Wade would track his location and know where to send the ride. He looked at Shego.

Shego nodded. "I'm off then. Til later." She vanished out the door. She didn't want to be around when anything associated with Global Justice showed up. Seconds later she was in her hovercraft headed back to the lair.

Ron sighed. Until the ride showed up he was left with Monique and her inquiries.

Monique was quiet. She was puzzled but didn't really have any questions she could think to ask. She looked at the girl at the counter. She was still pretending to be busy. She looked back at Ron. He still looked scared. She sighed. She hated not knowing things. "So, she's a good tutor?" She finally asked.

Ron nodded. He didn't feel capable of speaking but he took a deep breath and managed to squeak out. "I better wait outside. Later Monique." He took off, leaving her staring at him.

The ride was a cargo jet provided by Global Justice. Ron sat on one side of the cargo hole, Kim and Mark on the other side. The two were holding hands. For Ron it was a long ride until Mark let go of Kim's hand and slid across the floor to him.

"Hey Ron, been thinking about how you could make some money. One of the girls who works at the same dojo as I do mentioned that her sister was an awesome cook and joined cooking competitions." Mark slid a couple of advertisements he'd photocopied across to the blonde.

Ron looked at the photocopies. They were advertisements for cooking competitions. "You think I could win one of those?" He asked.

"Pretty sure you could. Probably more than one. At ten grand a win that should fix your finances for a bit."

Ron looked at the advertisements. It was something he would never have thought of trying before. Now he found he was excited. Here was a sport he could compete in. "Thanks." He finally spoke, looking back up at Mark. "I'm going to give that a try."

Mark slid back across the floor to Kim. He was pretty sure Ron would get somewhere in the top three of all the competitions. He had only tasted his cooking a few times but it had been the sort of cooking one could expect from a five star restaurant.

* * *

The villain this time was Dementor again. He had developed a ray that could instantly freeze all the world's oceans. It would eliminate all the world's shipping, not to mention all the world's fisheries. Scuba diving would also be a thing of the past.

They crawled in through the vents, as usual.

"Kim Possible! You will stop right there." Dementor ordered.

"As if." Kim answered back. She didn't see any reason to stop.

Dementor held up a small plush toy in his left hand. With his right he pointed a ray gun at it.

Kim Possible froze. "Is that a ...It can't be... They only made ten of those..." Her eyes were wide.

"Kim Possible you will stay right there. If you move this Cuddle Bunny will met its end."

Kim Possible froze, unable to move if it meant the end of the Cuddle Bunny Dementor was holding. It was she knew, a TigerRat, a combination of tiger and rat. And it was so cute.

Ron sighed.

Mark looked confused. He looked towards Ron as he usually did in such situations. The guy was rubbing his forehead with his hand.

Ron raised his hand, signalling he had a question.

"You ..." Dementor paused, he couldn't recall the name of the guy with the raised hand. He just knew it was someone who showed up when Kim Possible did. "Who are you?" He finally asked.

"Ron Stoppable." Ron answered. It was he knew a futile gesture. The name wouldn't stick.

"Never heard of you." Dementor responded. "What do you want?"

"Do you have a certificate showing that Cuddle Bunny is real?" Ron asked. He looked at Kim who was still froze, eyes wide, mouth open. She was drooling. He sighed.

"Certificate?" Dementor was confused. He had researched and found Kim Possible's weakness. Cuddle Bunnies! He had her beat.

"How much you pay for it?" Ron asked.

"Ten dollars and ninety-nine cents." Dementor responded.

"Ah. Pretty cheap for a Cuddle Bunny they only made ten of. Are you sure it's real and not fake?" Ron saw some expression return to Kim's face as she heard the price.

"Of course I'm sure it's real." Dementor shook the Cuddle Bunny. "Can't you tell it's real?" He demanded.

"No." Ron answered. "Let's see the certificate"

"There is no certificate." Dementor stated. He had merely ordered the thing online. He knew nothing about certificates.

'"Then it's not real." Ron stated.

"Is too." Dementor roared.

"Is not." Ron replied.

"Is too." Dementor claimed.

"Is not." Ron declared.

"Is too." Dementor fumed.

"Is not." Ron said.

"Is too." Dementor raged.

A grappling hook shot forward and knocked the ray gun out of Dementor's hand. Kim Possible followed the grappling hook, snatching the Cuddle Bunny, real or not real, to safety in her arms. She began to check it for damage.

Dementor stared at his empty hands in disbelief. "Get them." He ordered his henchmen. There were around ten of them.

Mark moved to intercept them. He looked at Kim, she seemed to be in another world.

"Don't expect too much help from her for a bit." Ron simply said. He'd shaken Kim's belief in the Cuddle Bunny being real but she would still be at least ten minutes checking it for damage and wondering whether or not if it was real.

Mark looked at her. He knew she liked Cuddle Bunnies but this was a bit extreme. He looked at the ten henchmen approaching them.

"Don't worry." Ron looked at the henchmen too. "Just handle them one at a time. I will keep the rest busy." He charged them. Nearly all of them went down as Ron turned his charge into a dive and collided with them.

Mark waded into the fight. He karate chopped one henchman who wasn't even looking his way. He fell silently and swiftly, needing just the one chop. Mark turned his attention to a second henchman which fell just as quick and easy. The henchmen were too busy trying to keep track of Ron who was running circles around them, screaming loudly and kicking stuff in their path.

Dementor saw the battle going the wrong way and disappeared out the back door.

The ten henchmen taken care of Ron approached the machine that dominated the center of the room. He studied it for a second and sighed. Reaching in he plucked a few wires loose. There was no way the machine could now accidentally fire. _If Will Du is the one picking this up it's better to be safe than sorry. Of course that is what people say about me too, _he admitted to himself.

Ten minutes later they were on the transport back home. Global Justice had swarmed the lair and taken control of the device. Kim Possible was holding onto the Cuddle Bunny with one hand, holding Mark's hand with the other.

Ron sighed.

* * *

End of Chapter.

Kim stands up for Ron along with the rest against Barkin? Yes, she is maturing too. And he is her best friend. We also see her love of Cuddle Bunnies.

Mark is still being nice. Pointing out how Ron can make a fair bit of money.

Ron and Shego are still getting along okay. Ron is worried about Global Justice. Shego is worried about losing her meals.

Monique is now even more curious. Guess Ron and Shego better find another place to eat at.

As Ron develops his fighting skills there should be a few more action scenes.

Wonder how things will go when they got to fight Drakken again.

Shego will discover something important in the next chapter, or the next. Not sure yet.


	6. Chapter 6

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

_**The Secret of Tai Shing Pek Kwar, the Secret of the Matchbox**_

Ron walked through the space center with Mr. Dr. P. It was a Saturday and he would normally have been working out at this moment but Mr and Mrs Possible had decided that he was spending too much time alone. It wasn't as if he could tell them about Shego's visits so here he was taking a tour of the huge building that was Middleton's space center. A world renown center for just about anything associated with spaceflight, including robotics and cybertronic technology.

"That Ronald, is the wave of the future." Mr Dr. P was pointing at a small device surrounded by several sensors and protected by two small lasers. When not being worked on this is where Mr. Dr. P keep his latest research project.

Ron looked at the device. Small. Shiny. It's didn't look like much but he knew with electronics a lot of power could be packed in a small package. He listened to Mr. Dr. P's rant about the astonishing leaps that had been made in cybertronic technology at this very lab. How the technology with sufficient energy could even absorb elements from the atmosphere and use it to enhance itself, or even replicate and grow. It was interesting, he had to admit._ Just the sort of thing a villain woul..._ He didn't have time to finish the thought. The wall of the room exploded inward, sending everyone running for cover. A green garbed form walked in through the hole.

Two well placed blasts took care of the lasers and a third took care of the container around the gizmo that Dr. D had told her to retrieve. _This, _Shego thought, _is like taking candy from a baby. _She reached for the now defenseless object. _I'll be back to Dr. D in no time and then I'll check and see if the Buffoon is at home. _She blinked as the just thought of Buffoon appeared and snatched the gizmo from its shattered safety box. Her fingers had grazed the object, she'd been so close.

Ron snatched the object and jumped back. He and Shego stared at each other, each surprised to see the other here.

"Hand it over, Buffoon." Her command demanded obedience.

Ron gulped. He and Shego had sparred quite a bit lately. He was no match for her even if he was now a competent fighter. For one thing she had a superhuman body to match her martial arts skills. He also knew this was no sparring match. Shego had a job to do. She would use plasma to stop him, not as a slap on the wrist.

Shego was glad the Buffoon realized the situation. She could see it from the look on his face. _Not that he's just going to hand it over, _she remarked to herself. _He's way too stubborn to be that sensible._ She lit her hands, using a lot more plasma than she did during their sparring.

"PIRBO." Ron said.

"Huh?" Shego wondered what he meant.

"PIRBO." Ron spoke again, this time he was looking at Mr. Dr. P who was hiding under a table. Then he turned to face Shego. He kept his face expressionless but let his eyes look over her shoulder. He tried to make those eyes seem relieved, as if help had arrived. He curled his tongue and projected, "Behind you Kermit." It sounded exactly like Kim's voice.

Shego whirled around. Princess was here. She could feel her as well as hear her. She ducked as she tried to predict how the annoying teen would attack. At the same time she tried to keep the Buffoon in sight. He would let Princess do the fighting but who knew what he would be up to. _At least there's no self-destruct button, _she thought as she crouched down, looking. She couldn't see Princess but she just _knew _she was here.

Ron watched as Shego whirled around. He drew in a deep breath and curled his tongue again. "Behind you Kermit." He project his voice behind the confused supervillainess again.

Shego whirled again. _Had that nerd who made her gadgets made her suit invisible? Something was off here. _

Ron curled his tongue again. "Behind you Kermit." He projected for a third time.

Shego whirled around, confused. She knew Kim wasn't normal. No one with her strength and agility was. But how the heck was she jumping around so fast she couldn't see her. And she was here, she could feel it, not just hear it.

Ron sent a chair into the path of the whirling Shego. She tripped but flipped back on her feet, the chair was demolished in the process. It was during that flip that he acted. He curled his tongue and projected his voice one last time, "Behind you Kermit." She was off balance. Trying to locate Kim, keep him in sight, and land at the same time. He stepped forward and rammed his foot into the back of her knee.

Shego went down as pained spiked in her knee. She turned it into a roll and was back on her feet instantly, just in time to see the Buffoon rush out the door, the gizmo in his hand. She gave chase, ignoring the pain. If there was one thing Shego knew how to handle it was pain. There was no Kim she knew. If there had been the Buffoon wouldn't be running and Kim would be tossing kicks of her own. She wondered how the Buffoon had managed the trick. She would find out.

Ron ran. Where he would run too he had no clue. He didn't even know the space center well enough to know what there was to run to. Shego would be behind him and she was fast. But that was what he wanted, for her to follow him. He wondered if Mr. Dr. P would understand his message. He hoped so. He turned a corner and kept running. He could hear Shego behind him. Instinctively he dodged the plasma that struck the walls around him.

Shego wondered if she'd been using plasma to correct her pupil a bit too much. He had gotten annoyingly good at evading it. She sent a few more balls of the green plasma his way and gave up. Taking time to throw plasma was just slowing her down. She focused her energy on speed. She ignored the pain in her knee. Running on it like this was just doing more damage but it didn't matter. By tomorrow it would be better. She ran. She closed the distance.

Ron knew it would soon be over. He passed an open window and threw the device he had in his hand out the window.

Shego saw the gizmo she'd been sent to retrieve go out the window and screamed in fury. This was the fifth floor, if the fall hurt it she would never hear the last of it from Dr. D. And it had taken her by surprise, that the Buffoon would risk damaging the device like that. _But then, _she mused to herself, _he know's the sort of things we villains would try to use it for. _She called the hovercraft to her location and stepped into it, out through the window. In seconds she was on the ground.

She began her search. The Buffoon hadn't just tossed it. He'd thrown it. There was no guessing how far it might have gone. She looked up, the Buffoon had joined her. He seemed to be searching too. She wondered why, if he found it first, she would just take it from him. She let him continue his search. She wondered how long before Princess really did get here.

"How you do it?" She asked.

"Do what?" He pretended innocence.

"Make it seem like Princess was behind me."

"Oh that." Ron wondered if he should tell her. He decided on half the tale so she wouldn't get suspicious. "Behind you, Kermit." He project the voice behind her again.

Shego jumped and looked around. She turned and looked at him.

Ron shrugged. "Voice throwing. Something I learned in camp when I was ten."

Shego fumed. "I was fooled by a child's trick?"

"Nay. Stage magician's trick. I'm pretty good at it."

Shego thought for a second as she continued her search. It was the first time she'd heard the Buffoon claim to be good at anything other than cooking. She wondered if his self-confidence was maybe just a bit better than it had been. "How did you do in that last competition?" She asked, still searching.

"Second place. Five grand."

"Pretty good." She admitted. And it was, there had been over three hundred aspiring chefs there. Something inside her wished she'd been there to watch him.

"Thanks." He replied. They both kept searching.

A small rocket took off from the building they'd just left. The Buffoon turned and looked at it.

"Well, guess I'm off Shego. See ya later." He started to leave.

She looked up in surprise. "What about the cybertronic technology? Are you just going to let me grab it." She knew he wasn't.

"Oh that." He turned back towards her.

* * *

Mr. Dr. P watched Ronald flee the lab with the villain Shego right behind him. He hoped Ronald would be okay. She looked dangerous. He looked down. In his hands was the cybertronic technology. Ronald had tossed it to him behind his back when he had charged Shego, kicking her. He didn't know what the boy had had in his hands when he fled the room, but it hadn't been the technology. And just what did 'PIRBO' mean. It was obviously important.

He picked up the phone and phoned his daughter. If anyone knew it would be her. She didn't. He tried the twins. They came up with all sort of possibilities but didn't know for sure. Then Kim hooked him into Monique. She had, when told the situation, simply replied. "Put in rocket. Blast off." It had been so simple. The green woman would be back for it. What better way to keep it out of her reach than to put it into orbit. So that's what he did. When it was safe it could be retrieved. Meanwhile he would just have to settle with developing the theories behind the technology. He hoped Ronald was safe.

* * *

Shego fumed as she took off in the hovercraft. He'd tricked her again. First with that crystal he'd taken from one of Dr. D's contraptions a few months back and now again. _Thought this time, _she told herself, _I did check to see if he was carrying it. And he did have something. It just turned out to be an empty flash drive that resembled the gizmo._ She sighed. Dr. D wasn't going to be happy. He'd put a lot of effort into this and the cybertronic technology he needed was several hundred kilometers above them. Way out of their reach until Dr. Possible decided to retrieve it. When he did the security would be way higher. It was frustrating to be outwitted by someone she could easily beat in a fight. But then that was the way he fought. It was effective. She had to admire that.

She recalled his progress over the last month. It had been as she'd expected. He'd stopped needing to write the recipe down. And then he'd stopped needing to reread the instructions. In fact he now just read the books and went through the routines. It was no long a page by page thing. He'd reach a level in karate that she thought was on par with her own. He'd learned several styles of kung fu. Not as many as Princess yet but enough to make him a formidable fighter. He was strong and agile. However he was still just a normal human, not enhanced like her and Kimmie. Kimmie she knew was enhanced somehow. Her speed and agility wasn't human. It was something she'd thought about for quite a bit but just how Kimmie had been enhanced stumped her. It seemed even the girl herself didn't realize it.

She sighed and set the hovercraft on autopilot. Her knee needed attending too.

* * *

Ron walked through the school. Even on a Saturday he knew Felix would be here. He and Justin would be working on something or other and he thought he might drop by just to chat a bit. Justin was the reason he and Felix now rarely spent time together. The two had become a couple. He still chatted with Felix at school and even a few times outside of school. However the two were usually engrossed in some project or other. They worked well together.

The plan changed when he saw Mark come flying through a door, leaving the door in two pieces. A new student, Eric, stepped out through. He was rubbing his fist. The smile on his face indicated he was having fun in a sick sort of way.

Eric, Ron recalled, had shown an interest in Kim ever since he'd arrived at Middleton High. He'd tried to gain her favor in every manner from chocolates to serenading. Ron had to give Kim credit. She might have looked at Eric a few time with a dreamy look on her face, but she had never given him the slightest indication that she was interested. At least not that he knew of. It seemed Eric had tired of the subtle approach and decided to get rid of his competition the easy way - with his fists. Eric, Ron thought, was going to be in for one big surprise if he thought Mark would go down that easy.

Actually it was Ron who got the surprise. He watched as the two circled each other and threw a few punches. Mark was getting beat! He wondered if he should get a teacher but on a Saturday they would be few and far between. Besides he doubted they would be capable of breaking up the two teens.

He decided to try himself. "Hey, no fighting on school grounds." For his trouble he nearly got hit by Eric. Only months of tutelage by Shego let him avoid the punch. It left a hole in the wall. From the way the two were going at each other he'd known from the start that reason was out of the question. And there was something strange about that punch. he stood back to watch for a few second. His mind analyzed the fight, taking in every detail.

Mark was being pushed to his limit. Eric had landed a few grazing blows and they hurt. What would happen it a blow hit him directly he didn't care to think about. This guy was fast. And strong. He'd been glad when Ron showed up. He'd hoped that Eric would then back off with the attention being drawn to the fight. He didn't. And when Ron stepped in between them he'd taken a swing at him. A swing which he'd avoided with amazing dexterity. He was surprised when Ron just stepped away and started to watch the fight. But then where could he run. No teachers and anyone else would be too far away.

"Synthodrone." Ron said.

Eric froze. He looked at Ron, surprise on his face. The loser had discovered the secret which no one should have been able too.

'Enhanced reflexes and strength, along with extra armor. The same trick Dementor used. Though Dementor's synthodrones were way better." He continued, staring at Eric. "Must be a wireless connection beaming the power somehow." He added.

"Synthodrone." Mark wheezed.

"His movements are too smooth. Too precise. Nothing alive moves like that. Should have seen it earlier. He's too perfect."

"That helps me how?" Mark asked. Kim was the one he needed but she'd just rushed over the space center after hearing about Shego's attempted raid. Mark himself had been planning to go there but Eric had intercepted him in the halls and asked for a bit of his time with a project.

Ron shrugged. "It doesn't really. No way to know where the wireless connection is. But it does mean you can fight without worrying about hurting someone."

Eric smirked. "Only ones getting hurt are you two." He turned and kicked a surprise kick at Ron, hoping to take him out of action. From the database he had access to he knew the loser wasn't much of a fighter and not worth the effort but it would keep him from spreading word about the fight. That was important. Mark was supposed to just disappear so Eric could gain the interest of Kim Possible. Two disappearing would be as easy as one. And he, Eric, would be there to comfort Kim Possible.

Ron dodge the attack. That, he saw, startled the synthodrone. The machine might have no capacity for emotion but this one simulated them well. Extremely well. It was, he thought, some of Drakken's best work. He crouched down in a fighting stance. He saw no choice.

Mark stared. The stance Ron had taken startled him. He had never seen the guy really fight before yet the stance he'd taken was perfect.

"Eyes on him." Ron stated.

Mark turned back to the synthodrone, realizing loss of focus here could be deadly.

Eric charged Ron, launching a series of attacks that should have, according to his database, taken him out action. The database was wrong. The loser, dodged nearly everything, parrying the one attack he didn't.

Ron was hard pressed. It had taken everything he had to dodge those attacks. The one he parried left his arm numb. He ignored it and counter attacked. He drove his fingers into the solar plexus of the machine and twisting around, put all his momentum into a kick. Neither of them had an affect. He hadn't expected them too. He was then kept busy backtracking, dodging attack after attack. _This can't last too long, _he thought. _Even if one of those blows lands a direct hit I'm history._

Mark meanwhile had followed and now launched a series of attacks from behind. Everything bounced off. He prepared another series of attacks.

"Mark. Find something sharp." Ron ordered.

"I can't leave you." Kim would kill him Mark knew if anything happened to Ron.

"Fists aren't cutting it Mark. We need something sharp. Now find it. Home Ec. room, knives." Ron was backing away, dodging attack after attack. A few he parried. Those hurt. But he was used to charging ten or more henchmen at a time. He knew how to take a hit.

Marked stared. The guy who never raised his fists on a mission, he realized, was handling himself here as well as Mark himself could. Perhaps better. He turned and ran.

A fist came towards his head and Ron ducked, twisting away as the followup attack came. He didn't waste effort on trying to attack. The synthodrone would have no need to dodge or parry. It wouldn't slow his attack at all. He just wished he hadn't left that device at home, it would have slowed the synthodrone down a bit.

The halls between the rooms of Middleton High didn't always offer a short route. Ron figured it would take Mark two minutes to get to the Home Ec. room and back. Two minutes during which he would have to dodge the quick, efficient, blows of a machine designed to fight. He wondered how many attacks that would be and pushed the thought out of his mind. Focus or you get hurt he commanded himself.

Ninety seconds later he knew he was near his limit. It was a short time but the attacks wouldn't stop coming. It was dodge and parry endlessly. And he had just felt his back hit a wall.

Eric saw the loser was near the end and smiled. He launched a punch towards the loser's solar plexus with his left hand while his right thrust towards his head, immediately followed by a kick towards the groin. It left him open but in this fight that didn't matter. The loser had nothing that could hurt him.

Ron saw the attacks. Knew he was about to be taken down in a very painful manner. He felt something surge inside of himself. Something that hadn't been there in any of his other fights. He twisted, avoiding the blow at his head, moving just a bare inch away from the attack on his solar plexus. His left hand came down and blocked the leg aimed at his groin. Then that feeling surged up his arm and into his right hand that drove upward into the throat of his attacker. Green goo splattered over him.

Eric backed back, taken by surprise. His systems read the damage as minimal, ninety-eight percent operational. But the loser was capable of damaging him. This was not according to the database. He improvised. He would now have to allow for defense. He moved in and resumed his attack.

Ron had twisted away from the wall and around Eric. He was now backing back the way he had come. _Means I'm moving closer to Mark, not further away. _That was a relief. And the synthodrone was now attacking less often. _Damage, _he wondered. _No, _he immediately deduced. _He's allowiing for the possibility of needing defense now. That's as good as damage. It's slowing down his attacks._ Ron dodged and parried, backing away.

Mark, Eric knew, would soon be back. He would then have two opponents, both trained fighters. The database was wrong on the loser. They would have knives. Something his skin was not very tolerant off. Fleeing would have been the proper course of action but that was not an option. There were now two people who knew he was a synthodrone, who could ruin the plan. Both had to be taken care off. He could not retreat. He resumed full-out attack.

Ron saw the change, that split second when his opponent was changing stances. Something surged inside him again. His right arm jabbed forward reflexively as he twisted, avoiding the blow aimed at his ribs, and stuck the same place as before. More green goo splattered over him. He twisted and flip the synthodrone using the arm that had been meant to shatter his ribs. The synthodrone fell to the floor and Ron kicked, aiming at the same point again in the throat of his attacker. More green goo splattered. A leg lashed out and Ron jumped back. It grazed him and his own leg went numb. He ignored it.

Eric stood. Damage read as eighty-six percent operational. It meant nothing. One or two more attacks in the same place and his skin would rupture. Regardless of what other systems were functional he would not be. He calculated the odds of defeating both the loser and Mark. It came to fourteen percent. The knives made a big difference in the calculation. He attacked. There was nothing else he could too. The plan demanded their removal.

Ron backed away again. The synthodrone was going all out again. Attack after attack. He backed away quicker than usual, using that to avoid more of the attacks. He was bruised and battered on nearly every inch of his body. He was tired. Mark would soon be here, he hoped. Still, he had a plan. The goo was slick and slimy. He was splattered in it. He used his left hand to wipe it away. He backed backwards, using just his ability to dodge and his right hand to protect himself from attacks. It meant taking some grazing blows. Eric was a machine. A synthodrone. His steps where precise. It was that unnatural movement that had given him away in the first place. It was that precise movement that told Ron where Eric would place each step. He let his left hand drop behind him for a second and let the goo he'd gathered drop. He stepped over it.

He waited and took another step back. The synthodrone's right foot came down on the goo. Ron charged, barely avoiding a blow to his own throat, blocked the synthodrone's left leg which was rising in a kick, and struck at the synthodrone's right leg. The synthodrone tried to twist to avoid the attack, twisting its right foot on the goo. It was just unbalanced enough to be sent to the ground. Ron kicked at its throat. More green goo splattered as the kick landed.

The synthodrone went to stand up but Ron pressed the attack and luck was with him. The synthodrone slipped on the goo it had spilled and fell back. Ron took another kick, taking a gazing blow to the leg he used as he did so. The kick landed and goo spilled from the synthodrone. It began to deflate as a tiny river of goo formed at its mouth and ran downward. Still it stood back up.

Ron retreat. The synthodrone followed. Ron felt the aches of his battered body. His left leg was numb while his right was a throbbing mass of pain. His chest and arms were a mass of bruises. The side of his head where a gazing blow had struck was bleeding. Thankfully the blood wasn't running into his eyes. It didn't matter. So long as he could keep backing away he had won. The synthodrone called Eric that followed him was slowly losing form as goo leaked from its mouth.

Mark came running, two very long, very sharp knives in his hands. He came to a halt as he saw the scene before him. Ron was backing away from a slowly deflating Eric who was leaving a trail of goo on the floor. Ron he saw was barely able to stand. Still the fight was over. "Sorry so late." He said.

"No matter." Ron answered. There was a long pause. Then he added. "Hope all of Drakken's synthodrones aren't like that one now."

They watched as Eric fell face first on the floor. Ron watched as Mark made sure the synthodrone would never get up again.

* * *

A hundred meters away a cloaked hovercraft took off. Inside Shego had watched the whole fight. _He's better than I thought, _she commented to herself. _Hope Drakken doesn't realize my part in his plans going awry._ She frowned, recalling the fear she'd felt as she'd watched the fight. The fear that the Buffoon would be seriously hurt. She was starting to become weak again. And the weak can be hurt. She swallowed and pushed the thought away.

* * *

Ron led back on the grass, It was getting late and he doubted Shego would show up. He wondered if she was angry about losing the cybertronic technology and about Eric. He had known they would eventually have to fight again. That Drakken would try something. He sighed. It hurt. There were no broken bones but he'd still taken a pretty bad beatring. There would be no practice tonight. He had only just got home from the hospital. Kim had made a huge fuss over him and Mark. It wasn't as though Mark had gotten away without a few bruises of his own.

He was surprised when the hovercraft door opened just a few feet away and Shego stepped out. She limped a little. She stretched out on the grass beside him.

"So, Buffoon, seems like you put up a pretty good fight against that synthodrone Dr. D whipped up." She looked over at him. "How bad?"

"Nothing that won't heal. No practice for a while though. Guess I will stick with reading for a bit. How's the leg?"

"It'll be fine by tomorrow morning. It's nothing."

He was relieved she didn't sound angry. "Must be nice to heal so fast." He commented.

"It is." She admitted. "Came in useful when Hego _helped _me learn how to control my plasma powers.?" She couldn't help adding. "Bastard."

Ron looked over. He wondered if he should inquire further. Shego lit a fist and he flinched away.

"Look." She ordered.

Ron studied the plasma wondering what she wanted him to look for.

Shego let the plasma fade. "The plasma is generated around my body, not inside it. If it touches me it burns. It took me some time to control it."

"What did Hego do?" Ron asked. He thought the question was safe, after all she'd brought the subject up.

"He stuck me naked in a room and _made _me use them time and time again until I was practically half burned to death. When I healed, which I did pretty quick, he made me do it again."

"Na.." Ron was surprised that the Hego he knew would do that. Not that he'd met the guy much.

"Clothes cost money." Shego shrugged. "Besides pulling burnt clothes out of burns pains like hell."

Ron gulped.

"On the bright side I did get pretty good at using them." Shego lit one finger and tossed a small ball of plasma into the air where it faded. She stood up. "Anyway Buffoon, I think we're both ready to call it a night. Later." She disappeared into the hovercraft.

* * *

Ron stood and slowly walked into the house. He passed the fridge, in too much pain to cook anything. He headed to his room. Rufus was there in a cage. The game console was nowhere in sight. Ron had taken it over to Felix for safe keeping until Rufus kicked his addiction. The naked mole rat looked at him solemnly.

"For your own good buddy." Ron told him. He sat down on his bed.

Ron sat on his bed for a bit considering Shego. That had been a brutal way to learn to control her plasma powers. He shuddered. He wondered if that was why she'd left Team Go.

He closed his eyes and began his meditations. Shego had laughed at him when he said he was going to try meditating. Mark had said he did it from time to time. Ron had decided to give it a try. He tried to listened to his breathing and focus on it. He pushed the pain away. He didn't move for a half hour. Then he began to focus on nothing at all. It was then that things got weird. The inside of his mind turned blue and he was sitting across from an old man who he vaguely recalled as Sensei.

The old man spoke. "So, Ronald, the time has come for you to learn Tai Shing Pek Kwar."

"Who?" Ron started to ask.

"You remember me." The old man studied him.

"I do now. But why ..." Ron was confused.

"Why did you forget? How could the school remain a secret if everyone who saw it remembered? You forgot it, but now the time has come to remember once more. It is time for you to learn Tai Shing Pek Kwar."

"How long?" Ron asked. He recalled how easily he had learned other martial arts.

"Years." Came the reply. "Tai Shing Pek Kwar is not one of the lesser arts, Ronald. It is the only art. You will not learn it as easily as you did those others. First you shall learn of this place. This is the focus of your being. If you will it an hour here is a second in the outside world, or a second can be an hour. From this place you will learn to access the powers hidden within your body and become a master of them. When you have masted the physical, the mental, and the spiritual, then you will have begun to master Tai Shing Pek Kwar. Now we shall begin ..."

* * *

Shego dropped to her bed. She was tired, but tonight was nightmare number eight. She sighed. She had tried to skip sleep the night of that nightmare but it didn't help. The nightmare was right there waiting for her the next night. She took out the matchbox she now carried with her sometimes. She wasn't sure why she did that. It was after all just a little momento that once someone did remember. It meant nothing. She recalled the wish she'd made that night. It had been silly, but things had seemed so surreal that she had went along with it. 'An end to the nightmares.' That is what she'd wished for. Of course it hadn't worked.

She yawned. Her body demanded sleep. The nightmare began. It unfolded before her as it always did. She had always been smart, skipping grades. Her comet powers made her strong. So strong she'd never believed anything could defeat her. She'd been wrong in that. She'd been so arrogant. Because she loved people she was weak. Because she loved people she could be defeated. She fell into the nightmare... But this time something was different. This time she wasn't reliving the experience. She was at a distance watching it from afar. She felt someone holding her hand but when she looked no one was there. She looked up and she was no longer in the nightmare. For the first time in six years Shego fell into a deep sleep void of the nightmares

She awoke twelve hours later. She looked down at the matchbox she held. She recalled the hand that had held hers.

* * *

End of Chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

_**Ron and Shego, First Mission, First Dance, or the Coco Moo Sitch**_

Ron was frustrated. This was the night of the Junior Prom. Kim and Mark would be there, together. He wasn't going. For some reason it didn't hurt as much as he had expected. Once again, he'd written down the name of almost every girl in Middleton High and once again asked them out. There had been a hundred percent negative response. He sighed. On top of that Bueno Nacho had changed. The changes were minor but they were there. Even if he didn't eat there often any more it had still been his place of refugee. That was no longer the case.

His practice routines were over with and he had nothing else to do for the whole day. He stared up at the clear blue sky from his backyard and sighed.

"What's up Buffoon?"

He jumped up. Startled. Looking around he saw Shego had landed her hovercraft behind him and had just stepped out. "Hiya Shego. Not much. How's life as a supervillainess these days?"

"Not too bad. Drakken is in a funk over the ... well a failed plot. This was supposed to be his big day and it fizzled. So it seems I got the day off. How about you Buffoon? Shouldn't you be at the school dance partying?"

Ron held up a little black book. "No date." He replied.

Shego took the black book and flipped through it. There were around a hundred and fifty names listed until the title, "Middleton High Girls Who Are Single.' Through each name there was a black line. "You asked all those out?" She asked.

"Yeah. Well except Monique."

"And they all said no?" She was amused. Sort of. She didn't like the look on his face.

"A hundred percent rejection rate, for the second time in a row."

Shego let the book drop. A small ball of plasma dropped from a finger and fell to the ground. The book disappeared. She went into the house, same as she had so many times before, and returned with a plate of food and some coffee. She sat down beside the Buffoon. She recalled her own highschool days. They hadn't been good. At least the Buffoon didn't have to go through ... _that!_ Neither of them spoke for a while.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

They both jumped. Shego lit her fists and crouched down, looking for the source of the sound. She felt foolish as she realized it was coming from the Buffoon's pants and that it was obviously the Kimmunicator. This wasn't the first time it had gone of when she'd been around. As usual she stepped away, out of sight.

"What's up Wade?" Ron asked as the image of the super genius appeared.

"Trouble Ron. Dementor is up to something and I can't contact Kim."

"She's probably preparing for the prom Wade. I doubt she'll want to go on a mission at the moment. Can't Global Justice handle it?"

"Sorry Ron. They're busy. One of their agents spotted Drakken in Upperton, drunk. He was going around to all the bars talking about how close he'd been to taking over the world. They got two agents in each bar waiting for him to appear again."

"Oh." Ron responded. He had to resist looking Shego's way. "So no Global Justice?" He added.

"No Global Justice." Wade woefully repeated. "And no Kim?" He asked.

"No Kim." Ron answered.

"I wonder if Team Go would be able to do the job?" Wade mused out loud.

Shego's hands blazed. The look on her face was one that would have sent even the staunchest Global Justice agent running.

Ron ignored her. "What's Dementor up to this time anyway?"

"He's built a device called a Reflectinator. It's really an Ice Age machine."

Ron wondered how one got from Reflectinator to Ice Age. "How's it work?" He asked.

"It projects a force field into the upper atmosphere. It's really weak and won't stop anything solid but it will stop enough of the sun's rays to cool the earth."

"Ah." Ron understood now.

"I guess I will check in with Team Go then. Take care Ron." Wade waved at him.

Shego was waving frantically at him. She had her fists lit. "Ahm, Wade, wait just a second okay?" He placed the Kimmunicator face down on the ground and cautiously approached the obviously upset villainess. She grabbed him, thankfully with hands no longer lit.

"It's bad enough he gets credit for saving Go-City. There's no fucking way I'm sitting here while he gets credit for saving the world!" Her voice was a whisper yet it was a screamed whisper.

Ron gulped. "Shego, you might not mind a villain taking over the world but ..."

"Mind? Dementor is Drakken's rival. He's the last person I want taking over the world." Shego fumed.

Ron felt his shoulders start to get warm. His jersey where Shego had her hands started to smoke. She removed them with a sheepish look.

"Look Buffoon, you've gone on missions before without Princess? Right? So take this one." Shego never pleaded. From her it was practically an order. "I'll go with you." She offered.

"That would certainly raise some eyebrows Shego. You saving the world, me the _Buffoon_ along as a sidekick."

"There's no way Shego would save the world Buffoon. But no one needs to know it's me. Or even that I'm along. So long as we fry all the cameras who's going to know. You think Dementor is going to talk about some strange woman to Global Justice?"

Ron sighed. "It's not like I got much else to do today. But why didn't you just go and mess up his plans and make it look like you were just stealing technology?"

"Because the nerd would have alerted Team Go and that idiot might have showed up. He would still have taken the credit." Her eyes blazed.

Ron went back to Kimmuniator and picked it up. "Wade. You know I'm not doing anything. I wouldn't mind handling things just for today while Kim's busy."

Wade blinked. Ron go on a mission alone? Sure, he had on the very rare occasion done so before but ...

Ron saw Wade's reluctance. "Wade. Are you saying I can't handle it?"

"Well no." Wade fibbed a little. Then he recalled Mark's description of how well Eric could fight and that Ron had defeated him.

"Then it's settled." Ron spoke before Wade could come up with more objections. "Talk to you later when I get back Wade."

"What about a ri..." The connection got closed.

Ron looked at Shego. She shrugged. They both boarded the hovercraft.

Thirty minutes later the machine, capable of supersonic speeds, had them over Dementor's lair.

Ron hopped out, while Shego remained inside to change. When she stepped out her appearance had been drastically altered. She wore a silvery, form fitting, suit. Much like her usual green, just silver in color. She wore an helmet with it that hid her hair and face. No one would be able to tell this was Shego so long as she didn't use plasma.

"So Buffoon. How do you and Princess usually get inside Dementor's lair. Vents?"

"Yeah. But you will have to stop with the Buffoon and Princess for a bit. Just incase there are listening devices."

"So what should I call you? And just what are you going to call me? Shego ain't going to cut it either I guess."

"Ron usually gets my attention." He turned and looked at her. "Since you're dressed in silver I guess I could call you Silver."

Shego nodded agreement. They both headed off towards the lair.

Finding a vent was no problem and minutes later they were in the main lab of the lair.

"Kim Possible!" Dementor exclaimed. "You will not defeat me this time!" He looked at the silver form as if confused. Certain parts of her had grown.

"I'm not Kim Possible, you doofus." Shego stated.

"Where is she? Why isn't she here on the big day of my success?" Dementor demanded.

"I think about right now she's getting her hair done." Ron commented.

"Hair? That's more important than seeing the day of my triumph?" He looked surprised.

"Guess so." Ron shrugged.

'Who's this?" Dementor pointed at Shego.

"That's Silver."

"Not Kim Possible?" Dementor asked.

Ron sighed. "No. Not Kim Possible. Now if you don't mind I don't have all day." He paused. "Actually I do have all day but that's besides the point. Call your henchmen."

"Henchmen!" Dementor called.

Ten burly men came running from an adjacent room. "Get them." Dementor ordered, pointing at Ron and Shego.

Shego moved into action, punching and kicking. She noted the Buffoon who usually didn't join in on the fight did so this time. His movements, if not as fast as her own, was still beyond that of a normal human. Over the last month she'd noted that increase in speed, as well as strength, and had wondered where it came from. The ten henchmen fell in less than five seconds. It hadn't, she noted, even been a workout.

"I hope this isn't all there is." Shego stated. She'd expected a fight, not this. No wonder Princess never got beat.

Dementor stared. His henchmen had never been defeated quite so easily.

Ron looked around and then turned towards Dementor. There wasn't the look of defeat on his face. "Somehow I doubt it's over yet." He said, speaking to both Shego and Dementor.

"Meet my synthobots." The man scientist pointed at them and ordered, "Synthobots destroy them!"

Ron had a bad feeling about this. He watched as four robots walked in from another adjacent room. They moved, unlike synthodrones, on four legs and had two additional appendages loaded down with weaponry.

"Synthobots?" Shego asked. "Is that something like synthodrones?"

:"No no no." Demention screamed. "They are much better."

"Silver. Retreat." Ron ordered.

Shego was confused. They didn't look that dangerous. At least not to someone like her. But she followed the order anyway. The Buffoon had jumped into a vent and was waiting for her. She read his face, danger. She jumped just as the four synthobots opened fired with some energy weapon. The wall to her left, not to mention the wall behind that, had great big gapping holes tore into them. She gulped and followed the Buffoon into the vents. They had way too much power for their size.

Ron lead the way through the vents. About fifteen meters in he stopped. The synthobots couldn't fit into the vents and couldn't follow them. _Thank goodness the villains always forgets something obvious, _he thought.

"What were those?" Shego demanded.

"I guess he tried to replicate Drakken's synthodrone technology. Last time we were here he had five of them. Synthodrones that is, not the bots."

Shego thought for a second. "And they're like Eric. They receive a power boost from somewhere via wireless link?"

"Yeah. Probably not a good idea to go head on against them. You could probably handle one or two of them using you know what. But we want to keep who you are from Dementor so that's out." He didn't want to use the word plasma where Dementor might hear but Shego understood.

"So what now?" Shego was curious what the Buffoon would come up with.

"Isn't it obvious?" He asked.

"We take out the generator." It was obvious.

Ron took out the Kimmunicator and began to fiddle with it. Eventually he had it tuned to picked up the frequency the synthobots were using. He pointed to the direction it came from and started crawling. It took them an hour crawling through the vents to find the right room. There were two of the bots guarding the generator. They faced the door.

Ron sighed and shook his head. Shego looked at him.

"Why do villains always miss the obvious?" He asked.

"Hey!" She pretended to be offended.

The vent was on the far side of the room. Ron simply took the grate off the vent and sneaked into the room as the synthobots continued to stare in the wrong direction. He turned the generator off and the two bots immediately fell over. Without the beamed power they didn't have enough energy to even stand. He tore a few of the wires out of the generator.

They walked up to the main lab of the lair where Dementor was fuming. Ron turned off the Reflectinator and tore a few wires out of it, same as he had with the generator. The Reflectinator had been running for a short time but he figured it wouldn have had time to seriously impact the weather. Shego watched him. They left the lair with Dementor tied up.

Outside of the hovercraft Ron made a quick call to Wade telling him the Reflectinator was out of action and that Dementor could be picked up by Global Justice at any time.

Inside the hovercraft Shego thought about the last time she'd pleaded with someone for help. She'd pleaded a lot harder back then. And the person had been a lot closer to her. They had ignored her pleas. Yet the Buffoon had listened to her. He could have let Team Go handle the job. He hadn't. She spent a long time considering that.

"Have any plans for today?" She asked.

"None."

"You're not going to the prom?"

"Nope." He sat back in the comfortable seat of the hovercraft. He wished Kim's rides always had seats this comfortable.

"Bueno Nacho?" She asked.

"Sure." It wasn't the same as before, but still any Bueno Nacho was better than no Bueno Nacho.

She landed at the same place as they usually did. _It's not as thought Monique is going to show up tonight, _he thought. He followed her into the restaurant.

"Shouldn't you be checking up on Drakken?" He asked as they sat down.

"Nay. He's okay. I dragged him out of the pub he was in earlier this morning and chained him to his bed. When he sobers up he'll just pick the lock and go to work on his next idea." Shego shrugged. "And if Global Justice gets him I'll just break him out again."

They dug into their food. It was, Shego thought, peaceful. Of course the lairs were peaceful too most of the time. Contrary to her image, she liked peaceful. She would never have tolerated the lairs if it were otherwise. Of course she also liked the occasional fight. That made lairs perfect for her. She thought of the Buffoon. She wondered what his perfect place would be like. She asked.

"Plenty of food, a modern well equipped kitchen, someone to share it with." Came the answer. "You?" He inquired. She told him. He didn't seem too surprised. They ate in silence.

Bleep! Bleep! Bleep!

As was normal now they both nearly jumped to the ceiling. This time the call wasn't from the Kimmunicator but from Shego's own communicator that Drakken had given her. Ron moved a little distance away and Shego opened the connection to her boss.

"Shego! Shego! He stole it. You got to get it back right away." Drakken voice came from the device loud enough to be heard even to the checkout counter.

"Shhh, Dr. D. Keep it down. What did they steal?" Shego tried to quieten down her boss.

"I was working on my latest plot Shego and he came in and demanded my most ingenious invention." The voice that came from the device was in tears.

Shego looked towards the Buffoon. She didn't want him to hear this but the way Drakken was speaking it would be heard even by the cashier. "Dr. D, keep your voice down." _Damn, why didn't he put volume control on this, _she thought.

"I had to give it to him. He had exploding golf balls. He would have wrecked my lab and my new plot." The voice screamed out of the device.

Killigan, Ron and Shego both thought at the same instant.

"He stole it Shego, he stole the recipe for my coco moo." The voice sobbed from the tiny device.

"He stole WHAT?" Shego roared back into the device. Working for Dr. D had its benefit but sometimes... She sighed.

"The recipe for my coco moo! Shego you got to get it back!" It was obvious Dr. D was nearing a breakdown.

"Don't you have another copy of the recipe?" She asked. She was afraid she knew the answer.

"Shego! Something like that is too valuable to write down in two places." He seemed shocked at the suggestion.

Shego looked up at the Buffoon and pointed at the booth. He might as well listen in since obviously Dr. D wanted everyone to hear it anyway. And it wasn't as though he was talking about his latest plot. Whatever that was. "I'll get it back Dr. D." She sighed again and rubbed her forehead.

"Please hurry Shego." Drakken sobbed.

"Yeah yeah! I'll get right on it Dr. D." She closed the connection and looked at the Buffoon.

"Coco Moo?" He dared to ask.

Shego nodded. "According to him it's the perfect recipe."

"It's that good?"

Shego remembered who she was talking to. When it came to recipes the Buffoon had an unsatisfiable curiosity. "It's pretty good." She admitted. "Of course I'm no expert. Guess I'm off." She rose, but then got an evil gleam in her eye. "Of course you can always come along."

"What!" Ron was taken by surprise.

"Why not?" Shego asked. Teasing.

"Retrieve something for a villain?"

"Think of it this way. If he has the recipe he's going to spend less time on his plots. He always designates one night as coco night. You'll be cutting down on his evil scheming."

Ron just blinked at the suggestion. He sighed. "Well, it's not as though he can take over the world with coco moo. At least I don't think he can."

"Just one thing. We will have to disguise you. The Buffoon can't be seen with Shego. Come on."

In the hovercraft she rooted around in a compartment and finally pulled out a bottle of gel. She tossed it at him. "Rub it in your hair. Don't worry, shampoo will wash it out." She tossed him another bottle, "On skin. Soap will wash it off."

Ron followed instructions. Soon he had black hair and a slightly darker complexion. Contact lenses changed his eye color. Shego, he realized, had one very well stocked disguise kit. A five minute stop at a mall got him a pair of black jeans with a green shirt. Colors that Shego picked out.

Soon they were over Killigan's. They debated on how to enter. Ron wanted to sneak in, Shego wanted to blast in. They tossed a coin. To Shego's dismay Ron won. She dropped the hovercraft down to the lawn around Killigan's place and the two exited. They circled the building looking for an easy way in. Eventually Ron just shrugged and, to Shego's surprise pulled out a lock pick and picked the lock on the back door.

"You know how to pick locks?" She asked.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Well. It just doesn't seem like a hero type skill."

Ron shrugged. "It is when breaking into a lair."

"Blasting in would have been quicker." She retorted.

'"True." He admitted.

She recalled how he'd penetrated a high security area with ease and wondered why she was surprised. They crept through the building together. They heard a loud voice and headed towards it.

"What is this?" Killigan was screaming to himself. "I canna read it." He stamped around the room. "That weasel wrote it in code." He stopped to stare at a piece of paper. He continued his rant. "I will make that weasel pay. He'll be the first to try my new deluxe exploding golf balls." He put the paper on a table and continued around the room ranting.

Ron saw his chance. Killigan was circling the room, talking loudly to himself. There would be a short period when the paper would be out of sight along with the door entrance. He flooded his system with adrenaline as Sensei had taught him to enhance his speed and dashed in, grabbed the paper and was back out through the door in less than two seconds. He took off for the hovercraft, hoping Shego was following. Less than thirty seconds later they were back in the air.

Ron looked at the recipe which wasn't written in code. Just shorthand that any chef could read.

She landed the hovercraft in his backyard and he jumped out. He turned to go into the house when she called for him to wait. Music started to play in the hovercraft and he was puzzled. Music? Shego jumped out, there was a strange look on her face.

"Everyone should get at least one dance on the night of their prom." She told him. She reach out and pulled him close.

They danced one dance. She instructing him the same as she would have during practice. To them both it seemed surreal. He was nervous, if he placed his hands wrong he knew she would fry him. She was lost deep in thought. The nightmare number eight she'd dreamed before the matchbox took it away wasn't of burning in the flames of her own plasma. It was of her own prom, the senior, not the junior. She'd had no dance that night. She pushed the thought away. This dance was to thank him for what he'd done for her today. It meant nothing. That is what she told herself as she instructed him. To care was a weakness. To trust was a weakness. She would never be weak again. She would never care again. She would never trust again. But she so wanted to.

* * *

Ron walked into his room. Rufus was still there in his cage. He looked pitiful. However Ron's heart leapt for joy when his little buddy looked at him and said, "Cheese." Not game, not mayhem, but cheese. Ron got him a large slice of cheese and the rodent started to eat. That relieved Ron even more. The naked mole rat hadn't ate for four days after Ron took the game away from him. It seemed he was getting back to normal. It had taken a few months but the withdraw symptoms were getting better.

He sat down to his meditations. So far he'd learned how to control his body for some minor enhancements to speed and strength through the control of hormones. Sensei promised him those were just trivial things compared to what he would learn. It was hard to meditate. Instead he wondered why he'd went with Shego to Killigan's. If they'd been caught it could have been pretty bad. He could see the headlines now, 'Sidekick of Kim Possible Caught with Supervillainess.' He shuddered. But in a way it had been fun. He focused his mind back to meditating..

After an hour of meditating he laid down to sleep. The nightmare came right away. The twisting, the turning, the desperate need to escape some horrible fate, then the stillness as death.

* * *

In her own room Shego also led down for the night. She made sure the matchbox was safely held in her hand. She felt its insignificant weight. So trivial a thing to possess such a power. The power to banish nightmares. She wondered if the power came from the matchbox itself or the one who gave it to her. She fell into a deep sleep where no nightmare could trespass.

* * *

End of Chapter.

Drakken of course now owns Bueno Nacho. He just can't implement his Diablo plan since he doesn't have the cybertronic technology.


	8. Chapter 8

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

_Warning: This chapter contains descriptions of torture._

* * *

_**Death Cometh, Again and Again and Again..., or the Monkey Gang Sitch**_

Kim Possible sat in her backyard and watched the two people she'd called there, Ron and Mark. She'd decided to see just how far Team Possible had progressed in its fighting ability. Not that she had any actual authority to do that. The three of them, in her opinion, were partners, though she knew Ron saw himself as only the sidekick. That hurt her. But still, partners or not, the two seemed willing to follow orders and she was willing to give them.

She recalled Mark's analysis of the Eric sitch. He'd claimed to have spent two minutes in that classroom with Eric before Ron showed up. He'd only survived those two minutes, so he claimed, because Eric had enjoyed taunting him. He'd given her the rundown on what he thought Eric's capabilities had been. It came down to a considerable increase in speed, strength, and defense along with an annoying ability to taunt people. She had no reason to doubt him. He could, she knew, handle one or two ordinary synthodrones on his own. That he'd lost against one said something. It also said something about Ron.

She turned to study Ron. He'd been stepping up a lot. Something she'd noticed for quite some time. He'd come in fifth in terms of grades for the class this school year. Justin, Felix, her, and Mark where the only four who'd scored higher. And that had only been because his grades in the early part of the school year had dragged his overall score down. She'd also noticed the increase in muscle along with his more confident attitude on the missions. He might have declined the offer to train with her and Mark but he had been training. She had been willing to let him do so, understanding that training with her and Mark would have made him uncomfortable. Uncomfortable enough perhaps that he may have stopped training altogether.

She also now understood why he made her missions so much easier. It came down to her and Shego being pretty equal in a fight. When things went wrong it was he setting off the self-destruct that ended the fight before she could take a beating. It had been so simple. Mark was like her, he waded into the fight tackling the nearest opponent. Ron on the other hand ran through them, not stopping to fight. He just distracted them. And despite how it may seem he did have complete understanding on each mission of just how things were progressing. When things went wrong he knew to hit that button, and was usually in the best position to do so. She'd had Wade run an analysis of each of the missions where Ron did hit the self-destruct. It turned out in sixty-eight percent of those mission she would have ended up captured.

She recalled the synthodrones Dementor had improved upon. It had been Ron who had analyzed the situation and determined what needed to be done. There had been a lot missions like that lately. She and Mark fighting while Ron ran around distracting henchmen. Then he would point out some obvious flaw in the villain's plan. A flaw she and Mark took advantage of.

She shuddered. Those synthodrones had been tough. They would have either beat her, or forced her to retreat. She was glad they'd been destroyed. Wade however had reported to her that Dementor had tried to replicate the synthodrones and had created synthobots. Their reported capabilities was frightening.

She pushed those thoughts aside. That wasn't the reason they were here. She looked at the two boys across from her and simply said, "Fight."

Mark looked across the yard at Ron. Sure he had often suggested he come and train with them. He had meant it too. Now he knew he was in a position that no guy ever wanted to be in. He was about to get his butt kicked in front of his girlfriend. He tried to read the expression on his opponent's face and failed. He wondered what the blonde was thinking. He seemed deep in thought. He wondered what Kim would think about him getting his butt kicked by a guy who was nearly a head shorter and weighed considerably less.

Ron considered the coming fight. He felt like throwing it. If he won there might be questions like who had trained him. It was bad enough avoiding Monique's inquiries about Amy. For some reason she had taken an intense interest in her. But, on the other hand, he didn't want to throw it. He had put a lot of effort into training. He considered Shego. She'd put a lot of effort into training him. How would she like it if he wasted her effort and time throwing a fight? _She probably wouldn't_, he admitted to himself. He crouched down. He would fight as best as he could. Sensei would also demand it.

Mark moved first, hoping to use speed and power to overwhelm his smaller opponent. He wasn't sure what happened, but he found himself on his back.

"Again." Kim ordered.

Mark swallowed and tried a defensive position. A second later he was on his back again.

"Again." Kim ordered.

Mark stood up. He was facing someone with greater speed, who was smaller and more agile. He wondered how he could counter that and came up empty handed. The difference in speed was just too great. Then he was on his back again.

"Ron, defense." Kim ordered.

Ron understood. He was to just defend, not hit back. He took a defensive stance and waited. Mark came at him with attack after attack. Ron dodged when he could, parried when he couldn't. Not a single hit landed.

"Stop." Kim ordered.

Kim sat chewing her lower lip. Sure she had known that Ron had been training. Had, from the Eric sitch, known he was on par with Mark. But from what she was seeing he had learned in a year what it had taken Mark ten years of dedicated practice to learn.

Ron read the expression on Kim's face. "You know KP, it's all just sort of there. I guess I've been with you ever since pre-K and all those hours I spent as a dummy for you to practice on. I never really tried to learn it myself before. Now that I am trying it all just seems to come to me pretty easy." It was the truth. She already knew about him using recipes to study.

"How many hours a day?" She wondered out loud.

"Six, usually. Some of it's just basic exercises and some meditation."

"Meditation?" She raised an eyebrow at that.

Ron pointed to Mark. "Blame him for that. He's the one who got me interested in it."

Kim smiled. She was glad her boyfriend and her best friend were friends. At first it had been so bad. "Six hours?" She asked.

Ron shrugged. "I got plenty of free time so got to spend it at something. And Zombie Mayhem is out of the question with Rufus' addiction."

Kim nodded. Rufus had been on her mind a lot. She was glad he was nearly fully recovered. Ron gave her daily reports on his condition. She stood up, walked to the center of the yard, and took a fighting stance. She noticed Ron gulp.

Mark stood back and watched. The fight was fast and, for sparring, pretty brutal. Ron was fast, Kim was faster. She used that advantage as ruthlessly as Ron had used it against him. It ended with Kim getting in ten hits to Ron's three. Mark considered their speed. Ron was faster than anyone he'd ever seen fight other than Kim and Shego. He wondered where Kim's speed came from. It was something he'd wondered before.

Kim and Ron stopped their sparring.

Kim studied Ron again. "For a single year that is amazing." She told him.

Kim sat on the grass, beside her boyfriend, resting against him. Ron, she noticed, looked away. It make her consider his dating sitch, or lack thereof. It wasn't something she could understand. He was definitely datable. Of over a hundred and fifty girls some, if not most, should have said at least yes to one date. At first she'd found him repeating that black book thing a bit amusing. She didn't find it amusing anymore. The rejection must have hurt. That he had done it though was a relief. It showed he was getting over her and moving on. She hoped their friendship didn't suffer. He was more precious to her than her own life.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Kim opened the Kimmunicator and the three gathered around.

"Hey, Wade. What's the stich?" Kim asked as the super genius appeared on the screen.

"It's Drakken again Kim. He's developed a device called a Sonic-Inducer that can cause earthquakes. I've pinpointed his lair and set up a ride for you."

"Thank's Wade. How long before the ride gets here?"

"Around ten minutes. It's nothing fancy but it will get you there. His lair is only twenty kilometers outside of Middleton."

"So close?" Kim wondered out loud.

"The mind of villain is hard to understand Kim. At least he makes it easy for you."

"That's for sure." She agreed.

The ride, a woman Kim used to babysit for, arrived on time. Twenty minutes later they were outside the lair.

"Vent?" Marked asked.

"Vent." Kim agreed.

Ron said nothing. Although there had been a few missions to Drakken's lairs since he and Shego had started meeting it still made him nervous.

In minutes they were in the lair. "Kim Possible!" Drakken exclaimed in surprise.

"Who were you expecting, Donald Duck?" Kim asked. The same old greeting was getting a bit stale. Heck, even calling her Kimberly Ann Possible like Zorpox had would be a change at least.

Drakken blinked in puzzlement. "Who's he?" He finally asked.

"Dr. D. Synthodrones, attack. Remember?" Shego interrupted.

"Oh. Synthodrones, capture Kim Possible." He ordered.

Twenty of the artificial creations moved in on Kim. She flipped out of the way and bounced back around one of them. She hit it. It keep standing. She repeated the process. They didn't have the same speed and strength as Dementor's had but they were still refusing to fall down.

Mark moved in behind one and started punching it. It's return attack sent him across the floor. He got back up, looking a bit shaken.

Ron noticed a bulletin board nearby. On it a note read, "Tuesday is Coco Night, By Order of Dr. Drakken.' There were other notices which Ron ignored. He took the huge tub of thumbtacks beside the board and scattered them across the floor.

"Ron." Kim yelled.

"Don't worry KP, your suit is strong enough to protect you against them." He simply stated and continued to watch. If Kim couldn't stop one of them then he had no chance.

Synthodrones were made of rubber. The sharp ends of the thumbtacks easily penetrated the soles of their feet. Problem was it didn't leave much of a hole for the goo they had for blood to leak out. Still some did. Just a little. Enough"

Kim bounced around for over a minute, launching attack after attack. The attacks just bounced off. Mark was still trying to attack one from behind without much success. Then one of the synthodrones Kim hit fell down. As it tried to stand up it fell down again. The little bit of goo leaking out of thumbtack holes had started to make the floor dangerously slippery. Two minutes later the lab was filled with twenty synthodrones that were all on the floor trying to stand up only to fall back down again.

"Nice Dr. D." Shego said. "Several million dollars worth of equipment taken down by a dollar ninety in thumbtacks." She sounded amused.

Drakken was staring at his new and improved army of synthodrones. Not one of which could get to its feet. His face held a look of dismay and shock. This time he'd been sure he had Kim Possible. "Shego. Attack." He ordered.

Shego jumped to her feet and flung two balls of plasma at Princess. Both were dodged. She jumped to a nearby desk and tossed two more. The floor was slippery to her as well and those thumbtacks would make a pincushion out of her.

Ron noticing Shego was occupied for the moment took a running start and slid across the floor like it was ice. In seconds he was at the Sonic-Inducer. He grabbed it to slow his slide and came to stop. He started plucking wires loose from it.

"Shego!" Drakken yelled. "Stop the Buffoon."

Shego looked around. _How did he get to the machine so quickly_, she wondered. _That floor should be too slippery to walk on._ She only had time to toss one ball of plasma at him before Princess was coming her way, forcing her to jump. The Buffoon merely ducked out of the way, not even bothering to look her way. He continued taking the machine apart.

The floor was out of bounds. Even if she didn't have to worry about the thumbtacks it was still as slippery for Kim as it was for Shego. Both fighters had to jump around on the various items in the room. In this Kim had the advantage, it being her usual style of fighting. It also mean she had fewer places to dodge to when Shego used plasma. This was to Shego's advantage. The fight was evenly matched.

Shego landed on a desk beside the Buffoon. She tried to take a quick shot at him though she was pretty sure it was too late to save the machine. As she was about to fire he kicked backwards at the desk, taking her by surprise. The desk moved from under her, forcing her to jump. She ended up on the floor, sliding and slipping for a few seconds before she could get back to a more secure footing. She threw two more balls of plasma at Princess and tried another jump. Her feet, still slippery from the time on the floor slid out from under her. She ended up back on the floor. The fight, she knew, was over. The console was conveniently beside her. She reached up and hit the self-destruct. Better that, she realized, than let Global Justice get their hands on Drakken's technology.

She saw the Buffon slide across the floor towards the exit. Princess' boy toy followed him. _So that's how he did it, so obvious, _she thought. She pushed herself towards Drakken and grabbed him. Seconds later she was out the door. She slipped seven times before she got to the hovercraft.

Team Possible watched the lair explode from a safe distance. A hovercraft had lifted from it and cloaked a few seconds earlier.

"They got away again." Kim sighed.

"Sorry." Ron said.

"Not your fault Ron. Those synthodrones were annoyingly tough. They're getting a lot harder."

"Talk to Wade. Have him build a jammer into the Kimmunicator. Should be easy enough to have it scan for the broadcast frequency being used and disrupt it somehow." Ron wondered why he hadn't thought of it before. A broadcast signal using that sort of energy should stand out from the rest. With the signal cut the synthodrones would be forced to rely on just their internal power again.

"It should." Kim agreed. She herself wondered why she hadn't thought of it. Or why Wade hadn't for that matter.

"They probably won't be using too many more of them anyway. They've failed and they must cost a fortune to build. What was it Shego said, millions of dollars?" Ron added.

"That's a lot of money." Kim had to agree with him there. "Still, I'll have Wade get to work on that jammer."

They took their ride home.

* * *

Ron worked out for a bit. He doubted Shego would be visiting so he headed to his room where Rufus was happily munching on cheese and watching cartoons. He was no long kept in a locked cage. Still Ron thought he should build up his strength before he went outside much. "Hiya buddy." He greeted the little rodent.

"Hiya." Rufus answered back. He went back to his cheese.

Ron sat back on his bed and did his meditations. The world around him vanished and he was sitting before Sensei.

"Greeting. Ron Stoppable." The old man spoke.

"Greetings Sensei." Ron answered back.

Then the two stood and sparred. The old man easily overwhelming his pupil time and time again until he mastered the lesson of the day.

When he opened his eyes Ron was glad that the bruises he'd suffered during the sparring didn't carry over into the physical world. Still he felt tired. It took a lot of effort to maintain that state. He fell asleep. Twisting and turning, a desperate attempt to flee, then the stillness as death.

Shego was bored. She'd delivered Dr. D to his backup lair. Had picked the thumbtacks out of her skin, showered and changed. _You've gotten too used to him, _she told herself. It was true. She had. Much as she loved the peace and solitude of the lairs having someone other than Dr. D to talk to was nice. Soon she was in her hovercraft heading to a now very familiar place.

She searched the ground for any presence of his parents and concluded they were absent. The Buffoon was nowhere to be seen but she saw lights flashing in his room so she figured he was awake, watching tv. She landed the hovercraft.

She flipped a tiny pebble towards his room window. No response. It's hard to wake the dead. She flipped another and another. Still no response. She sighed and turned to leave. Then she shrugged and jumped to a branch to peer in his window. She was afterall a villain.

She knocked on the window first. Then she peered in. He was asleep. She saw him twist and turn. So she wasn't the only one who had nightmares, she thought. Then he went still. She paid it no attention, it was just the nightmare ending probably. But then her very sharp, very sensitive eyes, focused on his chest. No movement. He was very very still. She swallowed. She gripped the branch tighter as she started to feel faint. She opened the window. Then to her relief he moved. He twisted and turned, in the nightmare again. She watched. The stillness again. So still. She shuddered.

She slid into the room. He twisted and turned. Then he was still. She reached out and felt his chest. No movement. No breathing at all. She gulped. Her hand moved to his throat and she tried to take his pulse. There was none. For a long time there was none. Then he started to twist and turn. His pulse beating strongly. She shook him and he woke up. She had never been so relieved.

"Shego?" Ron sleepily muttered as he was shook awake. "What are you doing here? Did Drakken send you to kidnap me again?"

Shego didn't know what to say. She was just so relieved he had woke up. Finally she asked, "You were having a nightmare?" She didn't know what else to ask. Asking him why he died in his sleep and came back to life seemed just a bit too much.

He shrugged. "It was nothing. Just a nightmare I have every now and then."

"How often?" She demanded.

"Well. Every night usually." He admitted. "It's nothing Shego. What are you up to tonight other than breaking into people's rooms?" He gave her a smile.

"What's it about?"

Ron looked at her confused. Why was she so concerned over a nightmare. "Nothing." He eventually said. "Just an old dream about Camp Wannaweep. I have it so often I'm used to it by now."

"Do you know you stop breathing in that nightmare?" She demanded.

Ron blinked. "Really?" He paused and then continued. "I mean in the nightmare I do, but you mean I actually don't breath when I'm not breathing in my nightmare?"

"No! You don't." Shego stated. "You don't breath at all. And ..." She stopped and gulped. "Your heart stops too." For the first time in six years Shego felt a tear run down her face.

Ron reached up and wiped it away before he remembered who she was. He drew his hand back.

Shego sat down on the bed. "What's the dream?" She asked.

"Nothing major." Ron evaded the question.

"Nothing major?" Shego repeated. "You mean it's enough to stop you from breathing and it stops your heart and it's nothing major?" She sounded mad, and scared.

"Shego. I'm okay. It's just a nightmare from when I went to Camp Wannaweep." He tried to sooth her.

"What sort of nightmare shuts down your heart Ron?" She demanded, too upset to call him Buffoon.

"Shego..." His voice faded. He had never seen her like this. He had once tried to tell the dream to Kim but they'd been kids back them. He thought she probably hadn't understood. Why couldn't he tell it to Shego? It was just a nightmare.

"Just a nightmare doesn't stop your heart Ron."

"It was just camp Shego. I drowned. They revived me. No big deal."

"Bullshit Ron. Your heart STOPS!" She wondered why she couldn't get that across to him. A person's heart stopping for a full minute was not normal.

Ron gazed at her, puzzled. It came to him why he couldn't tell her. Shego, he realized, was very protective of her friends. And he was her friend. If he told her she might do something that would be a mistake. They had just been kids. They hadn't understood what they were doing. Or so he told himself. Vengeance would be wrong.

Shego gazed back. She knew he wouldn't tell. She left through the window.

Ron turned and looked at Rufus who was frozen stiff, eyes wide, color pale. He seemed to be in shock. "Its okay Rufus. She didn't come here to hurt anyone."

Rufus stared back at him.

Ron got him another piece of cheese and rubbed his head while he ate it. "Soon they were both back to sleep." Ron in his nightmare, Rufus, quietly sleeping, dreaming of cheese.

* * *

Shego flew through the night, thinking. He'd mentioned Camp Wannaweep. It took her a few minutes to find it on a map and even less time to get there. She landed the craft and got out. She walked through the ruins of what had once been a camp for children. 'Summer Camp Fun For ages 9-12' read one sign that hung from a post. She turned it to ash. She keep walking, searching. The buildings were rundown and many had caved in. The place was obviously not in use anymore. Still, there must been a building that kept records.

She found it. The building was still sound and the door locked. That changed as she gave it a kick, shattering it. She wanted to use plasma but that might have damaged the records inside. Not that there was much. Most had already been destroyed in one manner or another. Ripped to shreds by a rabid squirrel who fled her approach, mold, ... But a few remained, the older records, kept safe in a few locked boxes. The locks meant nothing to her. She read and flipped through the records. Eventually she found the name Ronald Stoppable. The entry was eight years old. It gave his address along with the time he came to the camp and the time he left. Listed beside it were the names of the other kids who had been at the camp that year, along with the same information. Shego took the page with her.

She didn't really know what she was doing. She just had to find out what had happened at the camp. Drowning? Could that really be it? An event that was horrible but she doubted it would cause such trauma to someone like the Buffoon. She looked at the addresses. The Buffoon's was the same, maybe some of theirs were too. And they were all Middleton addresses. Close by and easy to check out. There were twenty-three names listed but she saw most of them had left the camp just two or three days into it. Only nine people, including the Buffoon, it seemed remained to the end of camp. She picked an address at random.

She hovered over the address, wondering how to go about things. It was late, but not too late. She put on her Amy disguise. Having Shego ask around about the Buffoon would be too much of a risk. Five minutes later she was knocking at the door. It opened and a lady, maybe in her forties peered out, cautiously.

"Is Ted Alright home?" Shego asked.

"Who are you?" The lady asked.

"Amy."

"Just a minute." She disappeared back into the house. A few minutes later someone, who was around Ron's age came to the door.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"You Ted Alright?" Shego asked.

"Yeah."

"The one who went to Camp Wannaweep eight years ago?"

The change of expression on his face went from curiosity to fear in an instant.

"Why do you want to know?" He was now cautious.

"I just have some questions about the place, if you don't mind. It won't take long." Shego hoped he wouldn't just slam the door in her face.

"That place is best left forgotten!" The boy declared.

"It was that bad?"

"It was hell!" Came the answer.

"What was wrong with it?" Shego asked.

"Everything! The food was practically inedible, the animals were all crazy or rabid, the lake water was toxic." The boy paused. "Then there was the monkey gang as they called themselves."

"The monkey gang?" She knew Ron had a fear of monkeys.

"The camp mascot was a monkey. Actually a chimp but we thought of it as a monkey. There were five older kids, they decided to make a gang and called it the monkey gang since the mascot was a monkey." He had an expression of pure hate on his face.

"What made them so bad?" She asked.

"They were psychotic for one thing." The boy answered.

"How so?" She prodded.

"One day we had a first aid class. We were taught CPR." His voice faded.

"And?" Shego prodded again.

"After the class they decided they wanted to practice some more. They took one kid and drowned him. I mean they drowned him. Then they did CPR on him. They killed him." The boy's voice was hysterical now. "They killed him." He added. Shaking.

Shego gulped. This was Ron she knew they were talking about. "What happened to the kid?" She finally asked.

"He started breathing again, but ..." The boy's face was white.

"But?" Shego prodded. She focused on keeping her plasma under control. She felt the need to ... kill.

"There were five of them. They each wanted to practice so they drowned him five times. They killed him five times in a row." The boy's face was white.

The lady appeared at the door. "I think that's enough." She said. "We were out of the country. If we had known..." She was near tears.

"Just one more question. The name of the boy?" Shego asked.

"Ron." The boy answered. Just as the door was about to close he reached out and grabbed it. "But it wasn't just once! They found it fun! They did that to him _everyday, _for _each _of the fourteen days we were there! _Everyday!_ Sometimes more than once a day!" The boy's eyes were wild, hysterical, as the door closed.

Shego turned and left. In the hovercraft she looked at the page. Nine names. One was Ted's, one was Ron's, of the other seven she knew five would be of the monkey gang. She felt the urge to hunt them down. To watch them burn. She knew now why Ron had refused to tell her about the nightmare. It was shame that he'd allowed that to happen to him. And fear over what she might do. That fear she found was justified. She was weak again. She cared. She wanted to protect him. She wanted to kill.

She landed in an isolated area dressed in the green she was famous for. Around her there was nothing but rocks. She called the flames then. Not the ones Princess saw when they fought. These were different. They started from her toes and spread upward around her until she a living flame. They burned hotter than anything Kimmie had ever faced. This was Shego when she didn't limit her power. She raised a hand and pointed. A boulder vanished, turned not to rubble but to vapor by her plasma. She walked, leaving a path of destruction in her wake. Some times the flames flickered and her own flesh burned. She ignored it.

She returned to the hovercraft drained. It lifted and turned in the direction of the lair. Inside Shego thought of the Buffoon. She had just wanted to see what he was capable of. She had never meant to care about him. She had never meant to be weak again. She thought about her twin brothers, the Wegos. What she had once sacrificed for them. She wondered if they ever thought about her. What did Hego tell them about her?

* * *

End of Chapter.

No, Kim does not find out about Ron going on a mission alone. Wade is not quite that suicidal. He would have only known about the synthobots because Ron would have told him about them. Ron would know better than to keep such information secret. He would not have mentioned Shego/Silver.

I also wanted to show that Kim is taking notice of Ron's achievements. And is proud of her friend. She doesn't look down on him and does appreciate him. When she claims Ron has been training a year she means from the time Mark showed up, not the amount of time since Ron started training with Shego.

I should also add that the nightmares don't have any mystical significence. They're just nightmares about points in their lives that changed them forever. That shattered who they once where. You will get to see a part of Shego's nightmare in a few chapters.


	9. Chapter 9

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

_**Shego Beats Kim Possible, Twice, or The Matchbox and the Flame**_

It was lunch time at Middleton High and Ron was gulping down his food as if his life depended on it. He felt good. He was now a senior, he had expectations of getting good grades, he had fun in the evenings sparring with a Shego, Rufus was better, the Kim and Mark sitch didn't seem to hurt anymore, and along with all that, the food was good. For whatever reason Barkin wasn't confiscating his packed lunches anymore. Beside him Rufus was busy digging into his own plate of Ron's homemade cooking. Across from him Kim and Mark were doing the same. Life was good.

"HEWU?" Monique spoke as she approached the table. "Hey everyone, What's up?" She explained.

"Not much." Came a chorus of responses.

Ron handed her a plate of food. She sat down and dug in. He found nothing kept Monique's questions at bay better than food.

* * *

Shego was in a library. It felt strange. Though once she'd considered them to be her second home it had been a long time since she'd been to such a place. She had once loved the books and the computers that gave her access to a whole world of knowledge. _Things change, _she told herself. For some reason the thought made her sad.

She sat down at a computer terminal. She could have used Dr. D's computers but she figured a library would be safer. She did searches using names from the Camp Wannaweep records she had. Of the seven potential names for the monkey gang she found two were in a hospital for psychological reasons. Hacking into the hospital records she found the reason they were there. PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. _Interesting, _she thought to herself, wondering if it was related to Camp Wannaweep.

She continued probing, accessing the accounts for the doctor listed as treating them both. It seemed he recorded their sessions in digital format. Records that were kept on computer. _How wise is that, _she thought to herself as she plugged in a pair of headphone and sat back to listen. What she found out surprised her. It was Camp Wannaweep related but the two hadn't been bullied by the monkey gang, they had been members of the monkey gang. Their psychological problems were caused by guilt over what they had done.

She sat back, thinking. Those two were in a hell of their own making. They would go to their graves remembering what they'd done. Live their whole lives regretting it. A part of her, the villain, still wanted to tear them apart. She suppressed that part. She stared upward, seeing column after column of books. She searched deep within herself and found another part, a part that was satisfied. A part that was even sad. They would pay forever for a mistake they made as kids. She pushed those two names out of her mind.

From the sessions she'd found out the names of the other three members of the monkey gang. She continued her search. Two were in jail. She hacked into the jail records. Life in prison for multiple accounts of armed robbery and one account of torture. There was a long list of other offenses. They would be inside for at least twenty years. She accessed their jail photos and an evil grin spread across her face. The grin would have shaken Zorpox himself to his boots. They were cute, very very cute. Her mind played with the idea of what being in jail must be like for them. Of the fun the older inmates must have with them day after day after day... The villain in her howled in glee at the thought.

She searched for the fifth name. Cal Ryan. She found his highschool record. Decent grades. His highschool picture showed him to be decent looking, nothing out of the ordinary. There wasn't much else. After a long search she found his latest address. She wiped the computer's history and rose. As she left the building she couldn't help but turn and take one last look at those columns of book. A part of her wept and she ruthlessly crushed it.

The building he lived in was decent. It even had security at the front door. She bypassed it by taking her cloaked hovercraft up to his window. She dug her glove claws into the window and pulled. It opened easily. She loved super strength.

Inside she searched and searched. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Just a normal guy living a normal life. At least until she looked in the toilet tank. There was a steel box there. _Interesting, _she vaguely thought to herself as she took it out and used plasma to burn through the lock. Inside was a bag weighting about a kilogram along with a small book. The book had a list of names, the contents of the bag was white. She didn't need to guess what it was. She just didn't know what to do with it.

The door opened. She looked up to see a young man walk in. Seeing her he froze, surprised. Then he moved, reaching under his shirt to pull out a small gun.

Shego reacted faster. Plasma tossed the man back into the wall, unconscious. She walked over to stare at him. He seemed so average looking. She still didn't know what to do. Something in her cried out to burn him but she figured if she did that the Buffoon would never speak to her again. Besides even as a villain that just wasn't her. If it had been Drakken would have taken over the world ages ago.

A part of her told her what to do, but she suppressed it. That part of her was long dead. Or so she had thought. Now it screamed in her mind. _I've spent too much time with the Buffoon, _she realized. It was something she'd known for a long time now, yet she kept going back. She stared at the motionless form on the floor. Her plasma would leave him unconscious for at least an hour. She gave him another dose just to make sure. She continued to stare at him. She flipped though the book, not just names but locations were mentioned. Names like Middleton Junior High School. Finally she sighed.

She imagined how the conversation would go. What she would say. Then she picked up the phone and called the Middleton Police Department. Two minutes later she was in her hovercraft heading back to the lair. The police would be at the apartment in minutes. She had conveniently left the door unlocked and ajar. Even a knock would cause it to open. They would see the man, the gun, the drugs, the book. They would put the pieces together. She doubted that his sentence would be light. Not if he was selling hard drugs to junior high kids.

She cursed her weakness. This seemed too much like being a hero. She hoped Drakken had a job for her when she got back. She needed to let out some of her frustration. If he didn't she would take her frustration out on him.

* * *

"Next job." Shego ordered, as she walked into the lair. It certainly wasn't a request.

"Ah. Nothing at the moment." Drakken replied.

"Next job." Shego lit her hands.

Drakken gulped. Shego certainly seemed to be in a mood for work today.

"Next job." Shego tossed a ball of plasma at his feet

"Next job." Drakken repeated, having danced away from the plasma. "Got just the thing Shego." He turned and rummaged through a drawer. He pulled out a pen and paper and started writing."

Shego looked at the paper he'd handed her. It read, 'Part Number: MKLPHGCVBTRPQ97.' She looked back at Drakken.

"Go to Smarty Marty, look in the electronics department. You'll find it there." He explained.

"Smarty Mart?" She asked.

"They're the only ones who carry that particular part." Drakken explained.

Shego shrugged. A job was a job.

* * *

Beep! Beep! Beep! The sound drew the attention of everyone in class.

Kim opened the Kimmunicator. "Hiya Wade. What's the sitch?"

"Hi Kim. It's Shego again. She'd been spotted in Smarty Mart."

"She shops at Smarty Mart?" Kim seemed surprised.

"KP, Smarty Mart is where all the smart shoppers shop." Ron defended the store.

Kim looked Ron. "You saying Shego is smarter than I am?" She asked.

"Well if she shops there she's a smarter shopper." Ron refused to back down.

"No way." Kim fumed.

"Is too." Ron stated.

"People!" Wade broke into the conversation. "That's not important right now. We need to stop her."

"Got a ride Wade?" Kim asked.

"All set up. It's outside the school waiting for you."

The ride turned out to be a taxi service. Motor Ed had once tried to steal all their cars and Kim had stopped him. In ten minutes they were outside of Smarty Mart.

"What could she possibly want here?" Mark wondered out loud.

"They sell everything." Ron answered.

They entered the store and looked around. It was huge. Kim opened her Kimmunicator.

"Any luck Kim?" The super genius asked as he appeared on the screen.

"Not yet. Any idea where she is?" Kim asked.

"Hrm. Well first she was spotted in the pets section, then in the exotic pets section, then the dangerous pets section. You should be careful Kim. For some reason she let all the animals lose."

"Where is she now?"

"Not quite sure Kim. That place has a lot of departments. I'm guessing she heading for the electronics department. Or maybe the rockets department. Then again it could be the artillery department, or maybe the heavy weapons department." Wade stopped.

"Artillery? Heavy weapons?" Mark asked.

"Smarty Mart has everything." Ron replied.

"Wade, can't you narrow the search down a little bit? This place is too big to search. Even all those departments you mentioned are too much." Kim was eyeing the multiple aisles and the multiple floors in front of her. She was understandably overwhelmed.

"Doing my best Kim. That place has over six thousand departments and over fifty thousand cameras. Plus she's not always in view of a camera." Wade looked a bit overwhelmed himself. Even having hacked the security system he was having trouble locating the supervillainess.

"Well she was making straight towards the electronics. I'm guessing you should try there first." Wade suggested.

"Okay." Kim closed the Kimmunicator. She looked around. _Just where is the electronics department, _she wondered.

Ron must have read her expression. "I think it's that way, KP, on the far side of the store." He pointed down an aisle.

"Okay. Then we better get moving." Kim suggested and they marched down the aisle.

They had walked around fifty feet when Mark screamed, "Look out Kim."

Reflexively she dodged. A snake, what sort she didn't know, dropped to the floor from someplace above her. It was huge and had very big fangs. It slithered towards her. She backed away.

A dart came out of nowhere and hit the snake. It went still. A man, carrying a gun, raced up. "Sorry folks. Someone set all the animals lose. Here's a Smarty Smart coupon to make up for the trouble." He handed Kim a fifty cent Smarty Mart coupon. He then picked up the snake, dropped it in a cage, and raced off.

Kim, Mark, and Ron stared at where he had raced off to. Then all three shrugged and resumed their march.

The got forty feet this time. Something scurried past above them. Whatever it was knocked a crate down. It nearly hit Kim who once again managed to dodge out of the way. The crate shattered on the floor sending night crawlers everywhere, including over the three teens. Kim nearly screamed. She felt the sudden urge to strip as she felt them crawl inside her clothes. She _barely _resisted the urge.

Ron and Mark were in the same sitch. Then Ron realized they were beside a washroom. He dashed in ignoring the fact it was a woman's washroom. Mark quickly followed. The two stripped and shook the night crawlers off their clothes. It took them a long time as they double and triple checked that they were clean of the things. They exited the room to see an annoyed Kim.

She had waited less than patiently outside as she felt the things crawling over her. She had been tempted to strip there. There was no one around and the boys were in the room marked for ladies. She was the only lady there. She should have had first access to the room. She felt things squirm all over her and nearly screamed. When, after what seemed like ages, the door opened she dash inside saying, "Finally," as she passed the two boys.

After a time the three were ready to move on again. All three were reasonably certain they were night crawler free. Kim simply pointed down the aisle. She didn't say anything. The three resumed their march.

They got thirty feet this time. A pack of wolves came racing down the aisle. Kim leapt up to the top of the shelves while the other two climbed the shelves one by one.

Kim looked down not really believing what she was seeing. "Is this a shop or a jungle?" She asked, half to herself.

"It's Smarty Mart KP, where all the smart shoppers shop." Ron said. Then, after a pause he added, "Though if they're really smart they don't shop when Shego's shopping. That isn't smart at all." He looked down at the wolves.

The three tried crawling along the shelves but the wolves just kept pace with them. Finally Kim dropped her knockout gas lipstick down among them. The three climbed down and resumed their march.

They got twenty feet this time. An elephant came charging down the aisle. It barely fit, its sides scrapping both sides, leaving debris behind it. Kim leapt over it. Ron dove onto one of the shelves as it raced by. Mark had dove onto another shelf on the other side. Kim turned and looked at the rapidly disappearing elephant. She sighed. She had a feeling getting to the other side of the store was not going to be easy.

"Okay, ready?" She asked the two boys who were both looking back at the elephant. They both nodded and tried to crawl off the shelves they were on. They couldn't.

Kim tried to move and found she couldn't. She looked down, then at the sides of the aisles. There were signs marked 'GLUE DEPARTMENT' everywhere. There were smaller signs labelled 'Super Deluxe Glue' on both sides of her. She sighed. They were glued in place. The debris the elephant had left behind it was broken bottles of glue. It was over everything. She tried to move her arms to get the Kimmunicator. Glue dripping down on them had them firmy glued in place.

Then Kim noticed something. She had missed one of the night crawler they had run into awhile back. She watched it crawl up her leg, up her stomach, up her chest, up her throat, then it was on her face, then it crawled in her nose. Kim Possible screamed!

It took the Smarty Mart Damage Control Department six hours to free them. It seemed the super deluxe glue was really good glue.

* * *

Shego had entered the Smarty Mart superstore and headed right for the electronics department. When she had seen the size of the store she had used the hovercraft's computer to print out a map. She had studied the map for a full forty minutes before she dared step foot in the store.

She had passed the pet supplies department and entered the pet department. There she had let the animals loose. Why? Because she was a villainess. A few minutes later she was in the exotic pets department. Once again she let the animals loose. She repeated the process for most of the animals in the dangerous pets section. She let the tigers and lions stay locked up. She didn't want to actually kill anyone. She had then passed through eight more departments before she got to the electronics department. It was huge.

Shego stared. The electronics department was around a hundred meters by a hundred meters. Electrical items were packed in piles that reached ten meters in height. From the map she'd known it was huge but this was insane. She gulped. _This might take some time_, she thought as she looked at the numbers on the items she passed. Then she looked up and read the sign that dominated the place. 'Smarty Mart Electronics Department : More Than One Million Parts For Your Daily Needs.'

Shego gulped. _A million different parts! This will take forever! _She thought to herself. She looked up. _I don't even know if it's near the floor or not._ She wondered if there was a salesperson around. There didn't seem to be any in sight. She sighed and looked around again. It was hopeless. Something scurried around in the column of parts above her head. She looked up and saw a chimp. It was pointing to something not more than five feet away from her. She looked. It was a stack of nearly wrapped parts all marked with the label 'Part Number: MKLPHGCVBTRPQ97.' She looked back at the chimp. "Thanks." She said. She guessed it paid to be nice sometimes after all. She was pretty sure it was one of the chimps she had freed.

* * *

Shego handed the part to Dr. D. "What sort of device you making this time."

Drakken grabbed the part. "Oh, it's for my new and improved Coco Maker 2.0."

"Not a doomsday device?" She asked.

"I can't think without my coco moo." Drakken replied. "The doomsday device comes after my coco moo."

Shego shrugged. She took the hovercraft and left. _So much, _she thought, _for acting like a villain. More like a common shoplifter._ She never learned she'd beat Kim Possible.

She landed in the yard, same as always. She went in the house and grabbed a plate of food along with some coffee, same as always. She went outside to watch the Buffoon, same as always.

"What's up Buffoon?" She asked as she sat down beside him.

"Not much. Heard you hit Smarty Mart today."

"Yeah. Place is huge. Why didn't Princess show up to stop me? Could have used a good fight."

"She sort of got tied up. We all did. Sorry to disappoint you."

"Oh well. It wasn't anything big anyway. Just a part Dr. D needed for his new coco maker." She sighed.

"Coco maker?" Ron asked.

"Yeah."

Ron burst out laughing. He thought about the snake, the night crawlers, the wolves pack, the six hours glued to a shelf. All because Drakken needed a part for a coco maker.

Shego watched him, wondering if he was okay. "It not funny." She finally said. "I'm a villain and here I am reduced to shoplifting parts for a coco maker."

Ron laughed harder.

Shego watched him. They hadn't talked about his nightmare since that night. She wondered if she should tell him how the monkey gang had ended up. Seeing him laugh made her feel good. She decided not to talk about such a dark subject.

"Practice?" She asked.

Ron nodded and the two got up.

As they circled each other Shego studied him. _Faster and stronger, _she thought. She wondered where that speed and strength was coming from. She wondered if he would ever become a villain but knew he wouldn't. He didn't have the capacity to hate that much. Nor the capacity to be that greedy. To be a villain you needed one or the other. She sighed as she blocked a punch and then jumped back from a kick.

"What's wrong Shego?" Ron asked.

"Ever think about becoming a villain?" She asked.

"If you mean take over the world sort of thing then who hasn't?" He answered.

"Oh? So you have?"

"But who would want to? I wouldn't have any time left over to cook."

"Could hire a hundred cooks." Shego replied.

"That wouldn't be me cooking. Besides would never know when one of them wanted to poison you and save the world." To Ron it didn't sound like a good deal.

"True." Shego admitted. She wondered what would happen to her peace in the lairs if Drakken ever succeeded.

"Ever think about becoming a hero again?" Ron dared to ask.

"Not really." Shego admitted.

"You didn't like it?"

Shego shrugged. She looked at her hands. She wondered what the Buffoon thought about green. She wondered where that thought came from. "Doesn't matter." She finally answered his question. "No one would accept Shego as a hero again and I don't want to be one again."

Ron looked her. He thought of the Shego he had seen over the last several months. The one that loved his food, who liked going to Bueno Nacho. The one who was his friend. The one with the sharp tongue, yet also free with the compliments. The one who seemed so sad. He realized how much he would miss her if these visits were to stop. "Bueno Nacho?" He asked.

"Sure." She replied.

Beep! Bleep! Beep! Bleep! Beep! Bleep!

They both jumped and then realized it was the Kimmunicator along with her communicator going off at the same time. They both sighed and moved a little distance apart.

"What's up Dr. D." Shego asked.

"I'm launching my greatest plan yet Shego. Get back here." Came the reply.

"On my way, Dr. D." She turned off the communicator and headed for the hovercraft. The Buffoon was still on the Kimmunicator.

Ron turned the Kimmunicator on. "What's the sitch Wade?" He asked. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Shego leave. He wished he could call her back. Bueno Nacho with her was far more fun than a mission.

* * *

An hour later Team Possible had infiltrated Drakken's latest lair and had entered the main lab. Shego and Drakken were waiting for them.

"Kim Poss.." Drakken started.

"Yeah! Yeah! It's Kim Possible" Shego interrupted. "Get on with the plan Dr. D" She was irritated at having missed out on Bueno Nacho ... With the Buffoon.

"Shego is that any way to talk to your boss?" Drakken demanded.

Shego shot two balls of plasma at his feet. "Get on with it."

Drakken gulped. "Ah yes. Where was I..."

"You were about to tell us how you turned a coco maker into an anti-gravity ray." Ron suggested. He was peering at the device in the middle of the room.

Shego blinked. _How did he figure out what the device was so quick, _she wondered. He was right. Dr. D had found out that the vibrations of his new coco maker cancelled gravity. He had added an amplifier and a projector and viola, a doomsday device called the Gravity-Nulifier.

Drakken blinked. He was thinking the same thing as Shego. "Ah..."

"Synthodrones." Shego reminded him.

"Synthodrones! Capture Kim Possible." Drakken ordered.

Fifteen of the devices came to life and tried to swarm Kim who simply jumped out of the way. She bounced back and kicked one in the head. It went down. These were ordinary synthodrones.

Shego leapt to her feet and tossed two balls of plasma at the teen. Kim was forced to turn and fight her.

Mark circled around one of the machines and punched. It went down.

Ron sighed. There were still thirteen. Too many for Mark to handle alone. He moved in and thrust his fingers in the throat of one. It went down. He brought his elbow back in the throat of another that had tried to get behind him. All thirteen went down pretty quick.

Shego watched, feeling a little proud, as her pupil took down ten of the synthodrones. She jumped aside as Princess tried to kick her. She sent two balls of plasma her way and then quickly turned and sent two towards the buffoon. As usual they missed him.

Ron watched the fight for a few seconds. Both fighters were angry. Kim was mad over being glued to the floor of Smarty Mart for six hours while a night crawler made its home in her nose. He shuddered. He couldn't really blame her for that. Shego was also upset he realized. He knew her well enough by now to know that, though the cause eluded him.

Anyway, he thought, I should be focused on either the machine or the self-destruct. He moved towards the machine Drakken had made realizing he didn't even know what Drakken had called it. It didn't matter.

Shego started tossing plasma at Princess as fast as she could.

Kim for her part kept jumping away. The barrage of fire often came close enough to make her skin tingle but it never touched her. The nearly continuous stream of plasma did serve the purpose of keeping her from getting close to the villainess. Her anger increased. In her mind she could still feel that thing crawling up her nose. She started tossing things. Books tossed at the plasma throwing villainess often caught fire and fell to the ground. Soon the lab had several fires in it where those books had landed on flammable items.

One of those items was a desk. Shego felt her blood run cold as she saw the desk start to burn. She launched herself forward and grabbed a box from it.

Kim saw Shego stop her barrage of fire and grab the box. _That's important, _she realized. She leapt at the distracted villainess and kicked the item out of her hand. Flipping over she grabbed it from the ground. She turned to face Shego who had froze. Her eyes were on the box.

Shego had kept the box there, within reach should they need to flee. She'd never expected Princess to grab such an ordinary looking item. It was just a fireproof box made of a nearly impenetrable metal. She should have left it on the desk and not brought it to the attention of Princess. Too late now. She watched as Princess opened the box.

Kim looked at the matchbox inside. She blinked. _Why would she keep a matchbox inside a metal container like that, _she wondered. She took it out and looked at Shego who was still froze. She opened the matchbox and looked inside. A number of burnt out matches. She shrugged. She was puzzled.

"Stop. Given that back." Shego spoke.

Kim looked up. Whatever this was it was important to the green-skinned bitch who was responsible for her spending six hours with a night crawler up her nose. Something inside her felt glee as she tossed the matchbox into the flames rising from the desk. She looked back at Shego smirking. The smirk faded.

Shego saw the matchbox disappear and knew tonight she would be in nightmare number eight. The power that kept the nightmares at bay was gone, forever. Something inside her broke. She felt the flames rise and she had no control over them.

Kim watches the flames around Shego's hands spread up her arms. Fire also started at her feet and spread upward. Her head blazed with fire. Kim felt herself stepping back in fear. The thing before her blazed like the comet that had given her her powers.

Shego felt her flesh burn where the flames wavered a little. It meant nothing. She raised her hands and pointed. Power poured from her. She could feel it rising from her feet and flowing up her legs, growing in both speed and strength as it did so. It flowed up her torso and out along her arms. All the while she could feel the heat from it become a raging inferno. A hurricane that she had only once ever pointed at another living person. Her brother Hego all those years ago. The flow of power left her hand and leapt into the air.

Kim tried to move, to dodge, but the coming inferno moved too fast. There wasn't even time to blink from the time if left the hand of the creature blazing before her to the time it hit. Pain erupted across her body as the two balls of plasma flew by her, one on each side, and hit the wall behind her. She felt the explosion lift her and throw her forward to the feet of the blazing creature. Even the miss caused more pain than she had ever felt before. She tried to move and couldn't. The suit which usually protected her had partially melted in the passing heat of the fireballs. It had now solidified, immobilizing her. Until it regenerated she was helpless. She looked up at the creature blazing before her. _She missed on purpose, _Kim realized. _She's just playing with me._

Shego stared at the person who had taken away her peace, who had returned the nightmares, and the hate in her raged. She wanted to burn this creature from existence, but something stopped her. She had never killed before.

Kim saw Ron approach Shego. "Ron run, get out, and Mark too." She knew of nothing that could fight the being that stood above her.

"Shego." Ron spoke. He reached out his hand. "I think you dropped something."

Shego saw his hand reach for hers and knew it would be burned, reaching into her flame. She felt the flames around her hand vanish of their own accord rather than harm him. He took her hand and turned it palm up. The matchbox was dropped in it and she felt the flames around her vanish. She looked at it in disbelief. She had seen it go into the fire. She closed her hands around it protectively. She looked up into brown eyes that were kind. She heard the self-destruct counting down and knew she had a part to play. She pulled back, grabbed Dr. D who was standing to one side mouth open, and fled.

* * *

Ron had seen the fires, saw the two fighting. He had known that things were getting out of hand, that they needed to be stopped. He turned from whatever the contraption was that Drakken had built and moved to the self-destruct button. He had hit it only to turn and see Kim toss something small through the flames of a burning desk. He had grabbed it and saw it was a matchbox. _She went back for it and kept it, _he realized in shock. The box was unharmed. Kim had only tossed it through the flame, not directly into the fire. And the box was of a sort that didn't burn easily. It hadn't even been singed.

He had then looked up in and been shocked to see the flames rise around Shego. Had watched as she blasted through three of the lair's walls effortlessly. He had watched her stare down at Kim unmovingly. As frozen as Kim herself. Unsure of what to do. _She wasn't trying to kill her, _he realized and relief flowed in him. He moved towards her. As he reached for her hand the flames around them vanished. He had known they would. Shego was no killer. Something in him had always feared her. That fear vanished. Shego he knew, would never kill.

With the countdown going both Ron and Mark grabbed hold of Kim and helped her flee from the lair. They got a safe distance before it exploded. Kim was a little singed but not seriously burnt. Wade told her the suit would repair itself given enough time.

Kim and Mark had wondered about the matchbox and Ron had honestly wondered along with them. He had simply explained his actions by pointing out that if the loss of the matchbox had caused Shego to blaze up like that then returning it might calm her down. It had, he pointed out, worked.

* * *

End of Chapter.

Had to have at least one chapter where Shego beat Kim.

With the monkey gang we see Shego does make sure they are punished. But she is fair about it even though she wants to really hurt them.

Ron has seen Shego's true power. He knows she's a villain, but also that she's no killer. She has immense power, but also the control not to use it to kill even when angered.

Shego is starting to have romantic thoughts, wondering what he thinks of her green complexion. We also see they would rather spend time with each other rather than on missions or taking over the world.

At least that is what I hope the chapter showed.

Next chapter, the next step in the RonGo part.


	10. Chapter 10

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

_**Shego and DNAmy's Night Out, Shego's Nightmare**_

Mr. Dr. Possible had spent months reviewing his theories on the cypertronic technology that he had blasted into space months ago. He was ready to resume work on it and that meant retrieving it from the orbit it had been placed in. Team Possible had assembled to ensure that when the rocket landed no villains would steal it. _It was a decent security move_, Ron thought, _if only they weren't going to place it back in the exact same room with the exact same two lasers in the exact same containment unit. _All now repaired of course. Sometime he had to wonder just how much common sense people had. But given his sitch with Shego he guessed he didn't have any right to complain.

After that incident at Drakken's lair she hadn't shown up for a few days. He wondered if maybe it was because her burns had taken that long to heal or if there was some other reason. Maybe she'd had some villain type job to do. Whatever it was she had eventually started showing up again. He had been relieved. But now she hadn't shown up for three days and he was worried. Something inside him told him something was wrong. Seriously wrong.

He looked at Kim. She had been seriously psyched out by the event. There had been one more mission to one of Drakken's lairs since then. Kim had been frightened. That was a very unusual state for her when it came to missions. With boyfriends, before she met Mark, she had been insecure. On the missions, never. Thought Shego had fought at the same level as she usually did Kim hadn't been quite up to her old self. Ron had been forced to press the self-destruct button, ending the fight.

Briefly he turned his thoughts to the self-destruct buttons villains nearly always included in their lairs. He knew why it was there. So when Global Justice came knocking they wouldn't capture any of the villain's technology. It made sense. If Global Justice could examine that technology in detail they could improvise countermeasures against it or even use it themselves. Destroying it made sense. But, given the lairs almost always got destroyed, he wondered, why he didn't just go straight for that self-destruct button. It would make things a whole lot easier. He sighed.

He noticed Mark looking at him. The guy, he knew, wasn't quite as oblivious as Kim. He had been looking at Ron more and more lately. He had bought the reasonable explanation that if losing something made someone mad, returning it might calm them down. However Ron had had no way of explaining how Shego could be so powerful for a brief period of time and yet fight as she normally did most of the time. He had merely kept quiet as the two discussed it. Thankfully none of them had asked him if he had any ideas. Mark though had been looking at him a lot since then. He didn't think it had anything to do with Shego though. He thought Mark was just trying to figure out why Ron acted the way he did on missions. Sometimes fighting, sometimes not. Why he sometimes hit the self-destruct right away and sometimes didn't.

He looked up and noticed a silver glint in the sky. The rocket was coming in for a landing. Five minutes later it was safely on the landing pad. Five minutes after that it was _safely_ back in its containment unit. Ron looked at the innocent looking device. "How long before someone tries to steal it again?" He asked.

"Why would anyone try to steal it again. Shego already tried and thanks to you failed. She doesn't usually go after the same target twice." Kim said.

Ron blinked. He really had no answer for that. She really was oblivious.

"Depends on who knows about it." Mark suggested. "Could be days, could be weeks, or even months."

"I give it an hour or less." Ron stared at the device. "Less than an hour after we leave that is." The technology was astounding. Any villain who knew about it would want it.

"Ron that's para..." Kim's voiced faded. She thought for a bit. "We leave and then come back through the underground entrance and wait a while." She decided.

It took twenty minutes. A series of explosions started coming towards them. Kim was instantly on her feet, heading towards the noise.

Ron followed. "Guess the first villain of the day is Killigan." He said.

"How do you know it's Killigan?" Mark asked.

"What would Killigan want with cybertronic technology?" Kim wondered out loud.

"Those are exploding golf balls. Can tell by the sound they made. As for what he wants it for, to make golf balls with of course."

"Cybertronic golf balls?" Mark sounded skeptical.

"I wouldn't want to face any." Ron said.

It was indeed Killigan.

"Ah it's the wee lassie." Killigan's voice reached them from across the room. "Hand over the cybertonic technology or I'll use my golf balls." He threatened. He dropped one to the ground.

It took Kim all of five seconds to take him down. Both Mark and Ron stood back to watch. "Wonder who the next villain will be?" Ron wondered.

Mark looked at him. "More villains?"

"If I was a villain I would be after it. Would hit hard and fast to make sure no one else got it." Ron answered.

It took them an hour and twenty minutes to convince Dr. James Possible to get Global Justice to upgrade the security around the project. In that time both Dementor and two bebe robots made an attempt at the technology. Ron shuddered at what the bebe robots could have done with cybertronic technology.

* * *

A few hours later the trio were together again in the school cafeteria. Ron had bribed Monique once again with food to keep her questions at bay. _In a way, _he thought, _she's a lot like Shego. Food calms the beast._

He was eating his own food, though a lot less enthusiastically than usual. He was worried over Shego. For some reason his stomach was in knots as he considered her absence the last few days.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Kim flipped the Kimmunicator open and turned it on. "What's the sitch Wade?" She asked.

"Got information for you Kim. Seems DNAmy has kidnapped Shego."

Kim blinked. "But she's already mutated."

"Guess she's going to mutate her some more. That might end up to be a pretty bad situation Kim. Imagine what DNAmy might do if she uses someone with Shego's powers in her experiments." The image on the screen shuddered.

Ron shuddered too. He liked Shego the way she was. He felt strange. Worry, fear, rage, all mixed inside of him. The world seemed unreal somehow.

"Wade! You are not telling me I got to go and rescue SHEGO!" Kim demanded.

"It's too dangerous to let DNAmy use her in her experiments. Besides, she might be your enemy but she is human. Imagine what DNAmy might do to her." Wade countered.

"But..." Kim didn't like the idea of rescuing the green skinned villain. She felt something wiggle in her nose and she shuddered.

"Kim." Ron broke into the conversation. "You can either face the mutated animals DNAmy has now or wait for her to mutate Shego and face that creation. A creation with superpowers. Imagine a ten foot tall Shego that's twice as strong and twice as fast as she is now." He tried to keep his voice reasonable. Just what were they waiting for, he wondered.

"But..." Kim sighed. "But she's my archfoe, my nemesis." She knew she was going to have to go and rescue her. It was the right thing to do. '"Ride?" She finally asked.

"Be there in a few minutes Kim." Wade hoped they got there before Shego was mutated. He was having nightmares of ten foot tall women who were green and had super strength.

* * *

The lair this time turned out to be a very large cave set in the side of a mountain. A fitting place for a woman who made mutant animals that were often the size of elephants. Anything smaller just wouldn't do. There were no vents so they walked in the front door.

"Kim Possible." Spoke the woman who was working on an unknown machine as the trio entered.

Ron looked around. He spotted Shego, lying on a table. While she seemed to be unconscious, she still looked like her own self. No strange growths or anything that he could spot. He was relieved. The machine beside her that was connected to a needle in her arm had him worried though. He moved towards her. He heard soft moans coming from her. He shuddered. Those moans chilled his blood. They were so soft, barely audible, yet they spoke of unimaginable suffering. He couldn't help but reach out and stroke her hair. The moaning stopped.

Shego was deep in her nightmare. She saw the flesh of the girl before her, just a kid, begin to peel. She could smell it burning. Hear her terrified, pain filled, screams. She could see her plasma reach out and flow over the girl. Then she felt a touch. Soft and gentle. The nightmare vanished.

"What are you up to DNAmy?" Kim demanded.

"You're not here to look at my Cuddle Bunny collection?" The woman asked. She seemed disappointed. After all Kim was a fellow Cuddle Bunny lover.

"No. What are you doing to Shego?"

"Oh nothing much. Just thought I would see if I could make her a little bit better. You know add the ability to use sonar like a bat. Some wings. Make her a little bigger. But what I really wanted to do is see if I could find out how she uses plasma so all my lovelies can use it too." The woman ranted on about her plans.

"You can't do that." Kim stated.

"Why not? She wouldn't bother you any more then. I thought you would like my plan." The woman seemed disappointed again.

"What's the needle in her arm for?" Ron asked. He wanted to pull it out but what if DNAmy had done something and pulling the needle out hurt Shego.

"Oh that's just a sedative. It's hard to keep her asleep so I need to keep upping the dosage." The woman explained.

Ron reached down and pulled the needle out.

"No! Don't!" DNAmy screamed. Then she sighed. "Oh well. She should have enough in her system to keep her out for ten minutes. I can put it back in when I'm finished with you." She looked at Mark."Hey, you're cute. How would you like some bat wings and some gorilla arms?" She was serious.

Mark backed away. "I'm fine the way I am thank you." He looked at Kim.

"He's fine the way he is." Kim agreed. "We'll be taking Shego now and leaving."

Mark turned to look at Ron. He was stroking Shego's hair and the look on his face was terrifying. Mark gulped.

"I don't think so dearie." DNAmy told Kim. She pointed and around twenty bats flew down from the ceiling.

Kim looked at them. They didn't seem too dangerous, but given DNAmy had cooked them up they could be capable of anything. She jumped out of the way and they turned to follow her.

"They're spider bats. I crossed the ability of spiders to spin webs with bats. They're really very nice don't you think?" DNAmy sounded very pleased with herself.

Kim kept jumping. There were webs being shot at her. _They don't spin webs, _she realized, _they shoot webs._ She tried to take a swing at one that came low but it swooped up among the others. They were out of her reach. She had nothing to reach them with. She kept jumping out of the way, forced to move with no time to think.

Ron ran his hands through Shego's hair. _If she were wake up she would fry me for that_, he thought. It didn't matter. For whatever reason she would be okay. Maybe DNAmy had found it difficult to mutate her given her already mutated state or something. He found it difficult to breathe. He ran his fingers through her hair again.

Mark was confused. DNAmy was proving to be more resourceful than usual this time around and the sitch was going the wrong way. This was the time that Ron usually stepped in and did something. Yet he was just kneeling there stroking Shego's hair. While he could see the attraction in that it definitely wasn't the time and place.

Ron heard someone call his name and turned to look. Mark was buried under a pile of webbing, looking his way. Kim was still jumping around but one of the webs had hit her and her left arm was stuck to her side. He looked at the machine that had been administering the sedative to Shego. He flooded his system with various hormones as Sensei had taught him. Time slowed, his strength increased. He picked up the machine and flung it at the bats. It hit one, sending it stunned to the ground.

"Don't hurt the cute little things." He heard DNAmy scream.

The bats were still focused on Kim who was jumping around as best she could. Dodging nineteen web casting bats at the same time was a feat only she was capable of. And that only for a short time. He smiled, webs or not they were still bats. He pulled out the Kimmunicator and began to fiddle with it. In a few seconds he had it configured to emit a very high pitched sound. He turned it on. The bats went crazy. They lost focus of Kim and swarmed around, seemingly blind. They hit the walls and fell stunned to the floor.

"What did you do to my cuties?" DNAmy demanded. She approached him with fury on her face. Then she saw his face and backed away.

"High pitched sounds?" Kim guessed. Both her arms were webbed to her torso, but she was still standing.

Ron nodded.

"My squid monkey army will handle you." DNAmy pointed again. This time at Ron.

Twenty monkeys appeared from some hiding spot that Ron had missed. They looked at him and approached. He sighed. He turned turned the frequency the Kimmunicator was playing at down to 90kHz. The monkeys got agitated. He turned the volume up. The high tech gadget was capable of a really high volume. The monkeys' eyes went wide and they started rubbing at their ears, running around in circles. They were in pain.

Ron moved. He ran among them and started to strike them with the edge of his hand. They offered no resistance and went down in seconds. He looked up. Kim was looking at him. "Same as with the bats." He explained. "Monkeys can hear up to 90Khz frequencies compared to 20kHz for us humans. I just played a really loud sound at 90kHz. They were in too much pain from it to fight back."

"Oh." Kim said.

He turned the Kimmunicator off. He didn't want to hurt the creatures more than he needed to. DNAmy was the one he wanted to hurt.

DNAmy began to back away. She edged towards the door.

Ron looked at her. "Run and I will break both your legs."

"Ron!" Kim was shocked her best friend since pre-K would utter such a threat.

Ron shrugged. "Imagine she mutated you KP. How would you like it? A broken leg is nothing compared what she would have done to us." He found some rope from the kit KP carried and tied the mentally deranged villainess up. Very tightly.

He walked back over to Shego. "Just going to check to see she's okay." He explained. She looked to be okay. She was breathing normally at least. His back to Kim and Mark he stroked her hair one last time. He wouldn't be doing that when she woke up he thought. He sighed.

"Ron, try to free us." Kim ordered.

Ron sighed again and turned away. The only device in her pack that could cut the web was her laser lipstick. He cut away most of the webbing but what remained still immobilized her. It was too dangerous to use the laser to cut closer. Her suit might protect her, but then again why risk it. He turned to DNAmy. "How do we get rid of the webbing?"

"It will dissolve on its own given enough time." The cowed woman answered.

"How much?" He demanded.

The woman thought a second. "Just ten or fifteen minutes for her. But for the cute guy on the floor it will be an hour."

Ron nodded. Mark had been hit by a lot more webbing than Kim had.

Shego moaned and began to move.

Ron grinned at DNAmy. "I wonder what Shego will do to you for trying to mutate her."

The geneticist went pale.

"It's not as though I can fight her, and you conveniently tied Kim and Mark up. So they can't help you."

The geneticist squirmed against the ropes.

Ron grinned at her. She suddenly decided she was as afraid of him as she was of Shego. She squirmed more.

"Ron. Stop that." Kim ordered. She wondered what had gotten into him. She was worried Shego would wake up before she was free.

"I'm going to check on Shego. Who knows what that stuff DNAmy gave her was." Ron moved back to the cot where Shego was. He listened to her as she woke up.

"Ron. Get away from her." Kim ordered. Afraid for her best friend. That was Shego he was kneeling beside. And he seemed to be acting weird.

Ron ignored her. Soon he saw Shego's eyes start to flutter. He was surprised when her arms rose and pulled him down into a hug, a hug that had her arms completely around him, pulling him down very tightly against her. "Buffoon." He heard her whisper in his ear. Then her eyes opened.

Shego opened her eyes and they peered up into the eyes of the Buffoon. Who, she realized, she had just grabbed and pulled into her arms. Her skin went green with embarrassment. Behind him she could see the eyes of the Princess which were opened very wide. She quickly released him. "Sorry. Was dreaming." She simply stated.

Ron was stunned. He stumbled back when Shego released him. He wondered if she was going to fry him for the mistake.

Shego stood up, still a little woozy from the drugs in her system. She knew it would clear in a minute. She saw Princess along with her boy toy were both sort of tied up for the moment. She stumbled to DNAmy whose face went white. Shego lit one finger. "You and I will have a little girl to girl chat later." She said. DNAmy fainted. Shego then stumbled out the door.

Two minutes later Kim struggled free of the webbing as it finally dissolved. "What was that about?" She demanded of Ron.

Ron shrugged. "She said she was dreaming."

"You let her hug you." Kim stated. Amazed.

"Not quite KP. I didn't have a say in the matter. But, so long as she didn't fry me for it I certainly have no complaints." He grinned at her.

"You liked it." Kim stated.

"Duh! What guy wouldn't have KP? If they said no they're either gay or they're lying."

Kim blinked in surprise. "But she's Shego."

"So?" Ron answered.

"But she's evil."

"She's still hot." Ron stated. He hoped Shego wasn't within hearing range.

"But..." Kim didn't know what else to say.

"Anyway, we need to wait for Mark to get free." He looked at the unconscious DNAmy. "And we need to call Wade to get someone to pick her up." Then to tweak Kim he added. "Imagine trying to mutate Shego. You can't improve on perfection."

Kim stated at him. Mouth open.

"Just kidding KP." Ron felt giddy, weird. Those arms had felt so good. Not that he would ever tell Shego that.

Ron ended up calling Wade. Kim was in shock. He was pretty sure no one had seen him stroking Shego's hair, so it was just the hug he had to explain away. Shego herself had explained that as a result of her dreaming. Since he had no other explanation for it that is what he too assumed. Kim and Mark seemed to accept it, thought Kim seemed unable to accept that he liked it. What Ron had trouble understanding was the word she'd whispered in his ear.

* * *

Ron kicked the dummy around a little. To really progress he needed a sparring partner but one made do with what one had. He kicked it, tackled it, and chopped it. All the time careful not to use any of the strength boosts that Sensei had taught him. The dummies seemed to break too easily then. After her ordeal he doubted Shego would show up. As usual, when he thought that, he was proven wrong.

The door of the craft opened and she walked out, looking the same as she always did. She made the usual trip in the house and returned with food and coffee. When she was finished they sparred. Not a word was spoken. Eventually the two of them led back on the grass.

"You okay?" He asked.

Shego nodded. "I'm fine." She stared up at the stars. "Let that be a lesson for you. Just because you think you're strong doesn't mean you're invincible. Hard to know for sure, but I'm guessing she mutated something to infiltrate the lair and drugged my coffee."

Ron looked over at her. She felt herself bush as she remembered the hug she gave him before she had fully woke up.

"I'm fine." She reassured him. She stared back up at the stars. "So, your nightmares. What are they about?" She asked.

Ron hesitated.

"No, I won't hunt anyone down or seriously hurt them." She reassured him.

Ron thought that over. She hadn't promised to not hunt someone down and minorly hurt them. He sighed. He told her about camp and the drownings. He wondered if she considered him weak that he'd allowed it to happen.

Shego seemed to know his thoughts. "DNAmy got me. Do you consider me weak?" She lit a fist to make a point.

"No. You're definitely not weak Shego." He looked at the lit fist, the way the plasma glowed around her hand.

The plasma faded. "You're wrong." She told him. "We're all weak."

He looked at her again, but knew enough to not interrupt, just to listen.

"Only the naive or the arrogant think they're strong. I used to be both. In school I skipped two grades. I thought I was so smart. I had super strength that made me the strongest person in the school. I thought I was so strong. I had plasma that could level a building. I thought I was so powerful. I could take a hit that would kill a normal person. I thought I was so tough. Turned out I wasn't either of those things." Her voice was so sad.

He dared to reach out and touch her hand.

She continued. "Just think. DNAmy got me with some creation that probably took her all of five minutes to cook up. Something I could have crushed if I had seen it. I didn't. Just like back in school. I could have crushed anyone of them. But ..." She shrugged.

"I was on the gymnastics team." She explained. "Thinking back it probably wasn't fair. I mean superpowers that let me take top place in every competition. No wonder they all hated me. They worked hours each day to achieve what they could. I spent hardly any time practicing. I skipped most practices going out to hunt villains. There was no way they could compete no matter how hard they worked."

She shrugged. "I didn't care. I didn't think about it. I was having fun. I had everything. A family I loved, perfect grades, superpowers, ... Everything."

She looked at him. "My little brothers, the Wegos. They were perfect. I would come home each evening and play with them. They of course were too young to fight crime but they could be really sneaky with those powers of theirs. They were so adorable. I loved them. I would do anything to keep them safe. That was my weakness. No one could touch me, but they could touch them. Hurt them. I couldn't let them be hurt."

"Love is a weakness." Shego said. "Those girls spent year after year hating me. Eventually they had to do something. That hate was just too strong." She sighed. "It was the last week of highschool. If they wanted to get even it had to be then. There were a ton of them that hated me. Some quite smart. So they made a plan. Eight of them. Four to threaten the twins. Those I would never see. Four to blackmail me. I could see their hate was strong enough to really make them hurt the Wegos. And I didn't know who they were so I couldn't protect them. The perfect set up."

Ron didn't even want to think about the sort of things that sort of hate would have conjured up in those girls' minds. He shuddered.

Shego felt the shudder. "Sure they hurt me. But it wasn't that big of a deal. I was used to burning alive. Against that pain they had nothing. On the last night of the school year they wanted me to hurt someone. I went to Hego for help. I told him everything. He didn't help. So I hurt that person. I burned them. My own flesh burning, no big deal. Someone else's, with my own two hands... I can still hear them screaming. Smell the flesh burning."

She could still feel his hand touching hers. It twitched. "Then one of them made a mistake. I got good hearing too. There was no other group. No one to hurt the Wegos. Just those four. I lost control. They lived but they were in the hospital for a long time. I made sure they knew never to hurt the Wegos."

She went to rise. To leave. The Buffoon was a good person. He wouldn't want someone like her around.

The hand tightened on hers. So she stayed.

* * *

End of Chapter.

Of course Ron is wrong, someone did see him stroking Shego's hair. Mark.

No, Mark is not interested in Shego. He is just noting that he understands Ron interest. He and Kim are a hundred percent solid.

Ron is admitting his interest, at least to himself.

Shego is admitting it to herself too.

Shego already knows about his nightmare and what caused them. Her asking is a request for trust before she tells him about her nightmares.


	11. Chapter 11

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

_Some notes to answer some of the questions in the reviews:_

_Chapter 7 was the night of the junior prom, chapter 8, though I did not directly mention it, took place during the break between the junior and senior years (Kim talked about Ron's grades), chapter 9 took place during the start of senior year. Each chapter does have a long period between then. I am just showing snapshots of what's important._

_Yes Ron will develop more and will develop/use more gadgets. Actually he will, at the very least, develop a gadget in this chapter._

_As for Kim noticing Ron's development she did that in chapter 8. Please remember Kim herself is not normal and has "superpowers." Where she gets them will eventually be explained. She is not judging things by a normal perspective but by her own superhuman abilities. Remember she can run on walls and knows more styles of kung fu than anyone her age could ever hope to learn. That's what's "normal" for her. If someone was to duplicated her feats she would not consider it strange. She considers herself a 'normal' girl._

_Kim is busy. She had a boyfriend, she leads the cheerleading squad, she has her own school work (advanced courses), the missions, ... Ron and Shego have plenty of free time to get together without her noticing._

_As for Kim accepting Ron/Shego as a pair. She went into shock that he even finds her attractive. It's going to be a hard sale._

* * *

_**Burning Buildings, First Kiss**_

Ron and Shego danced around the yard in quick, sure, movements based on kicks and punches. Ron had got up early to work on ideas he had had during his last session with Sensei. Shego had dropped by after doing a villainous type job for Drakken. They had decided to spar a little. For both it was a fun way to pass the time. Occasionally Shego would bark some order at Ron to correct his movements. Lately it was something she rarely had to do. He was getting really good.

A ray hit the ground beside Shego. By reflex she had jumped out of the way.

"Shego stand where you are." A voice ordered from above.

Shego looked up. "Hego?" She muttered, confused. _What is he doing here, _she wondered. She jumped as Hego, holding what looked like a heavily modified helmet, pointed it at her. The ray from it missed her

She flipped around the yard several times, each time dodging the ray. She tossed plasma back but of course Hego's own comet powers protected him. Eventually she got lucky and struck the helmet, breaking it. With Hego having no long range weaponry to use she now stood still and poured ball after ball of plasma at him. It would, she knew, do no good unless she went all out. That she refused to do. But it still felt good.

The jet Hego was in rose rapidly into the sky and vanished.

The attack had taken Ron by surprise. There had been nothing he could do against the superhero who had been in a jet around ten meters from the ground. Even if he had been within reach he knew Hego's powers would have protected him from harm. He had frowned as Shego flipped around the yard. He had felt helpless.

"Wonder what that was about." Shego said as the jet vanished from view.

"Superhero hunting a supervillain?" Ron suggested.

"Nay. He's never come after me before."

Ron chewed on his lip, not liking that someone might be targeting Shego "How dangerous is he?" He asked.

Shego shrugged. "I can handle him if I go all out. You know, like that time with Kimmie. I'm also more agile. But he's a lot tougher and a lot stronger."

Ron knew Shego didn't like going all out, but would if the situation demanded it.

"Strange." Shego muttered, half to herself, thinking.

"What is?" Ron asked.

"He's got a hero complex. With the sparring he would have thought we were fighting. He should have jumped down to save you." She stared into the sky where the jet had vanished. It had been a long time since she'd seen Hego but something about him had definitely been off.

"Will you be okay?"

"Yeah." Shego reassured him. "He's way too inept to be much of a threat to anyone. If he didn't have comet powers to protect him he'd be a danger to himself." She shrugged.

Bleep! Bleep! Bleep!

Shego sighed and moved away from the Buffoon. She turned on her communicator. "What's up Dr. D."

"Get back to the lair. I got a job for you."

"Okay Dr. D. Be back in a few minutes." She turned the device off and turned back to the Buffoon. "See you later Buffoon." She waved to him and left.

Ron watched the hovercraft door close, rendering the vehicle invisible again. Feeling the draft the lifting craft made he sighed. It was unusual for Shego to be around in the mornings. It had been fun. His thoughts turned to what Sensei had told him in their last session. The art of Monkey Kung Fu was derived not from monkeys themselves but from all primates. That included humans who were masters, in the primate world, of technology. A master of Tai Shing Pek Kwar, he was told, was also a master of technology.

That had made him think back to many of the missions he had been on. How technology had played a big part in his role on them. How devising new gadgets seemed to come so easily to him now. He frowned, thinking back on how helpless had felt seeing Shego dodge whatever Hego had been using. How helpless he had felt. He didn't like that feeling. He decided to do something about it. Ten minutes later he was in the kitchen, parts from many sources spread out on the table. Some came from devices Wade had used, some from Kim's twin brothers, some from Felix's projects.

Comet energy he knew radiated from the bodies of people like Shego and Hego. It was pretty much the same as the heat and electrical impulses generated by people. A sensitive enough device could detect it. First he started off with an antenna. Small, formed in a circle that would fit around a wrist. It wasn't easy. He wanted it to be able to detect a large range of frequencies. He added in a few computer chips that came from some of Felix's robotics projects. They would analyze the frequencies and compute a counter frequency to neutralize it. That was the easy part. It was just a chip and some code. The third part required a little more thought. He wanted something to generate the counter frequency but a battery just wouldn't have enough power. Finally he modified the first part to not just detect the frequencies but to absorb them. He then added some circuitry to convert that frequency to the counter frequency.

Finished he looked at the wristlet he had built. Turned on it would work automatically, scanning for and detecting certain frequencies and generating one to counter it. It wasn't much. But if it worked it would mean he could punch someone like Hego. His fist would pass through the comet powers protected by the counter frequency, allowing the blow to land.

* * *

He walked to school with Mark and Kim. He no longer felt the hurt he'd once felt seeing them together. He recalled how he'd been wrong about no one seeing him stroke Shego's hair. Mark had asked about it. Ron had just shrugged and said it was something he'd always wanted to do. Mark had bought it. At least Ron thought he had.

They didn't get far into the school day before the Kimmunicator interrupted it. Kim opened the device and started talking to Wade with Ron and Mark looking on.

"What's the stich?" She asked.

"Something weird is going on in Go City." Wade answered. He showed them images of the Go Team superheroes on a rampage. The Wegos ran into an electronics store and swarmed, creating at least ten copies of themselves. When they had all run out the store was devoid of any video games and a fair number of music CDs. Hego was shown smashing through walls and just generally wrecking stuff. He seemed to be pretty good at it. Mego was shown shrinking, running into locked rooms through some small opening and coming back out. When he returned to his normal size he was shown to be carrying some fair sized bundles of money.

"Wow!" Kim uttered in surprise. "That's Team Go?"

"It is. Or exact duplicates of them. Either way I thought it might be something you would want to check out." Wade explained.

"We have a ride?" Kim asked.

"Your mother's car. Seems she's getting a new one and is now giving you her old one for nearby mission. It should cut down on the favors you need to turn in for rides."

"Oh." This was the first Kim had heard of her mother getting a new car, let alone giving Kim her old one. Not that she had anything against having her own set of wheels. She and Mark had been talking about cars lately but with the saving up for college had decided to put it off.

"It's still at your house though. You need to walk home to pick it up." Wade sounded apologetic.

"That's okay Wade." Kim grinned. Her own car was way cool.

Fifteen minutes later the trio were in the car and on their way.

Several hours later they'd been in Go City

None of them had noticed the cloaked hovercraft following them. Inside was a very annoyed Shego. Her morning had been interrupted to open a jar of pickles. That was the villainous job Dr. D had called her back for. She sighed. Something had been wrong with Hego this morning. And the Buffoon was heading to Go City where Hego was. She followed. She dreaded the thought of going to Go City. She might run into her brothers. Or worse, she might into _her._ Shego trembled but maintained her course.

* * *

Go City, the trio noticed, was in a panic. They passed numerous fires, downed telephone poles, half wrecked buildings, ... Things didn't look good.

"Where too first?" Kim asked.

"Probably Go Tower." Mark suggested. "That's probably still their base."

That was the plan. When they stopped at a red light, a dozen Wegos swarmed out, lifted the car and turned it around. They were facing the wrong way in the traffic and given the traffic conditions there was no way Kim could turn around. She drove backwards.

Then Mego jumped out behind the vehicle close enough that Kim almost ran him over before she could stop. He shrank before he was crushed by the car and ran off.

Then a large truck was dropped on the road, upside down, blocking all traffic towards Go Tower. They would find out later that Hego was blocking all major traffic routes in the city with such obstructions.

Kim parked the car and the trio got out. She looked back at it and hoped it would be still in one piece when she got back. Somehow she doubted the car would last long if used on missions.

They headed for Go Tower on foot even though it seemed none of the superheros turned villains were there. Still what had caused this might be. Or at least some information on what was going on.

An hour later they stood in front of the doors of Go Tower. They tried the doorbell. If no one was home then it would be impossible for them to get in. The doors would only open from the outside for someone with comet powers. With the three members of Go Team out wrecking the city it was a long shot. It paid off. From the tower came a voice.

"Who is it?"

"Kim Possible." Kim said.

"Who are you?"

"I'm a member of Team Possible. We're here to see what going on with Team Go. Why they're wrecking the city." She explained.

"So you're superheroes?" The voice asked.

"Well, I guess you could call us that." Kim admitted. She hated to brag.

"Just a second."

The door opened. A figure with long dark grey hair and a greyish tint to her skin appeared. In her hand she held a device much like the one Ron had seen Hego use that morning. He jumped to one side, pulling Mark with him. A second later a beam shot out from the device where they'd been standing.

The woman turned to aim at Kim who leapt to one side.

The trio dodged the beam as the woman fired again and again. Thankfully she aimed mostly at Kim who was the most acrobatic of the three. The beam came nowhere near her.

"You know." Ron called out. "We don't even know your name."

The woman turned the device on him. He leapt just as a bluish ray hit the ground beneath his feet.

"It's Electronique." The woman answered. She took aim and fired again.

Ron dodged to the side. "I'm Ron Stoppable." He replied. "Don't worry if you forget it. Everyone does."

"What's going on?" Kim asked the woman.

The woman turned and aimed at Kim.

"I'm just going to rewire you a little." The woman explained.

"Rewire?" Kim asked.

"Yeah. Soon you will be out wrecking havoc on the city like the Ego Team."

"No way." Kim declared.

"That's the Attitudinatior Kim. We get hit by it we will be evil." Ron explained. He'd just recognized the heavily modified helmet.

"Oh." Kim flipped out of the way of the beam again. She was trying to get close to Electronique to knock the device out of her hands but the woman was very fast.

"It's the Reverse Polarizer." Electronique explain. "Much better than the Attitudinatior I would think." She demonstrated by aiming and firing again.

"It could still be made better." Ron stated

"No it can't." Electronique argued. Her weapons were always optimal. Annoyed at the suggestion she turned her focus on Ron and started firing.

Kim flipped up to the woman and knocked the Reverse Polarizer out of her hands. "That's the end of that." Kim stated. She barely had a chance to jump out of the way as the woman emitted an energy bolt from her hands. It singed Kim's hair as she jumped back.

"You ever wonder why the villains always got the good stuff KP? Ray guns. Superpowers. Stuff like that." He dodged a bolt of energy from Electronique's hands.

"Ron, ray guns are not good." Kim stated. She flipped from where she was standing to another position. A bolt of energy nearly hit her. She wondered what she had that could stop the woman. As the woman was distracted shooting at Ron she pulled out a tube of lipstick and tossed it at the feet of Electronique. A few seconds later as the gas took hold she fell down. Covering her mouth and nose Kim ran up and grabbed the lipstick again.

"Well, that was fun." Ron spoke in a tone that indicated it hadn't been. He didn't want to be a villain nor did he want to be fried by some strange bolt of energy.

"At least we know now why Team Go are acting evil." Kim replied.

'"How do we restore them?" Mark asked. He was glad the woman hadn't taken very many shots at him. She seemed to be on a whole different scale than the villains Team Possible usually went up again.

"We have Wade scan the device and see if it will reverse the affect if it's used on them again." Kim explained.

"It will." Ron answered.

"How do you know?" Kim asked.

"By what she called it, a Reverse Polarizer, that means it reverses the good and bad in a person. Doesn't just work one way. All we need to do is find the members of Team Go and use it on them." Ron was pretty sure it would work.

A few minutes later Wade had confirmed his suspicions. It would work. Or it would have if not for Electronique.

With an unusual metabolism she had recovered from the knockout gas much sooner than expected. Her ability to use energy allowed her to quickly get rid of the ropes tying her up. She dove forward, grabbed the Reverse Polarizer and fired at Kim at point-blank range. Kim glowed for a second and then her face changed into a smirk. She turned and started fighting Mark. Ron meanwhile charged Electronique and kicked the device from her hand just as she turned Mark evil.

Just then Hego, Mego, and the Wegos showed up. Ron was outnumbered seven to one. He made a grab for the Reverse Polarizer but Kim got to it first. She turned towards him with an evil grin.

"Time to become a bad boy again Ronnie." She aimed and fired.

Ron jumped around. Dodging. This, he knew, was very bad. Kim kept aiming and firing. Given her reflexes he thought she was just having fun prolonging the situation. Hego jumped in his way to grab him and Ron punched. He was surprised when Hego went down. Then he remembered the wristlet he had made earlier. It seemed to work. The beam from the Reverse Polarizer missed him and hit the still stunned Hego, turning him good.

_Six to two, _Ron thought, hopefully. His hopes were dashed as Kim turned Hego back to evil again before he could do anything. Ron sighed and kept jumping around.

The Wegos charged him and he leapt. They were short and he sailed over them. It was pure luck Kim didn't hit him as he was in the air. Then Hego was in front of him again. Ron hit him and he went down. Once again the beam meant for Ron hit Hego and turned him good. Ron didn't get his hopes up this time. Hego was turned back to evil a second later.

It was hopeless. Still he kept dodging, knowing Kim was having fun. Then he stumbled and knew he was about to be hit. Kim smiled at him and pushed a button. She seemed as surprised as he when the beam vanished around six feet from him. The door of a cloaked hovercraft opened and Shego pulled him in. The door closed and she lifted for the sky.

"What's up Buffoon." She asked, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

Ron sank back on the floor. He'd flooded his body with various hormones when the fight started and it took time to clear his system. "Same ole same ole." He replied. "You know fighting villains. This time though they just happen to be Team Go and Team Possible." He wondered if he should have told her that.

"How that happen?"

"Some woman called Electronique turned them evil with a modified Attitudinatior."

"Oh. Sounds fun." She wondered what an evil Princess was like.

"To you maybe."

Shego grinned at him. "So how did you do it? That trick that knocked Hego down?" That she really wanted to know.

"Tell you if you help me turn them good again." Ron bargained.

Shego considered it. To her, of late, being a villain wasn't something she liked or disliked. To her it didn't ... She sank back in her seat. It did matter, she realized. The Wegos were now evil. Her little brothers were not the cute little tykes she'd once known and loved. They were now villains. Not cute at all. She'd sacrificed her soul for them and now... Plasma rose around her hand unsummoned. Now some bitch had changed them. She wondered what they did in their free time. Play video games. Sports maybe. Chase girls. The last brought a very slight smile to her face. She would bet the girls were crazy over them. She was, she decided, still weak. She would do anything for them. Electonique would burn if they were harmed.

_Besides there was still the Buffoon to consider, _she thought to herself._ He's not nearly as likeable when he's evil._ She sighed. "Deal." She agreed. She really was interested in how he'd knocked Hego down.

Ron showed her the wristlet and explained what it did. Just how it worked he kept to himself.

"That was fun. Seeing him get knocked down like that. I guess you were too busy running to see the surprise on his face." Shego was obviously pleased to see Hego get beaten. "Anyway, Buffoon, just how are you going to turn them back to being goody two shoes?"

"It shouldn't be that difficult."

"So you got a plan."

"Yeah." Ron thought it would work. It would just require some patience and a bit of luck. "Actually we got almost all the advantages." He added.

"How do you figure that?"

"They're going to want to wreck havoc on the city again. So they will leave the Tower. That means when we try to get the Reverse Polarizer we will only have to fight Electronique. Not all seven of them. I'm betting you're a match for her. With that device in our hands it will be easy to change them back." He grinned and added. "Besides, they only saw the far side of the hovercraft when you grabbed me. To them it was as if I disappeared. They don't know I got you on my side." He stretched. All that jumping around had been hectic and hard on the body.

"Electronique will feel pretty secure behind that door that only comet powers can open." He added.

They waited. Shego turned on the tv to watch. The news showed a city in panic. Team Go might now be in the Go Tower but the devastation they had wrought on the city remained. There were fires and the roadblocks Hego had put in place was stopping rescue workers from getting around. It was chaos. Shego wondered where _she _was, the girl she had burned all those years ago. Was she out among that?

The night began and the fires still raged. The villainous group Electronique had created remained in Go Tower. They both figured it would be morning before they left.

Shego watched the news, thinking of the city she'd once protected. She thought it ironic that she would be back protecting it once again. This place she feared so much. A villain doing a hero's work. She sighed.

"What's wrong?" The Buffoon asked.

"Nothing." She replied. A news item caught her attention. A building on fire and the news reporter was showing pictures of the people still thought to be in the building. Some firefighters had reached the building and they had kept the flames under control for a short time, but now they had lost the water and the fire was running out of control. Shego stared at one of the photos the reporter was holding up.

"Shego. What's wrong." The Buffon was asking her again."

She pointed. "That's the girl I burned." Shego saw the flames around the building rage out of control and knew the girl would burn again. She touched the controls of the hovercraft and sent it flying. She feared facing that girl. She wanted to turn and run. But she couldn't let that girl burn again.

It took merely a minute to reach the scene. The two of them sat, watching as the scanners searched the building. There were two figures inside, deep within the building, surrounded by the fire.

Shego picked one of the sides of the building and set the hovercraft to remain there. She blasted a hole in the wall and entered. "Stay here." She ordered when the Buffoon went to follow her. He would burn in there.

The scene before her was one from hell. The entire floor was aflame. She walked through it, setting a straight line towards where the scanners had showed two figures, side-by-side, somewhere deep within. She ignored doorways, they would just take her out of her way and through more fire. She blasted through the walls. She could smell flesh burning. Her own. It was nothing new. She walked, blasting through wall after wall. She was afraid she'd missed them, in the smoke and fire. That she had come too far. Then she heard crying. Shrill screams of pain. She remembered those sounds so clearly.

She found them, huddled together in a bathtub. There was water in it. Something they must have filled it with back before it stopped running. The room was in flames and Shego figured by now the water must be pretty hot. Not that the two figures could leave it, surrounded by flames. It was a miracle they were still alive.

The older figure was holding, trying to protect a smaller girl who was the one making the shrill screams. She looked up, the older girl did, and Shego saw her face. The face of the one who she'd burned all those years back. The girl screamed, echoing the screams of the smaller girl. She tried to pull back away from the monster she saw before her. A monster she clearly remembered. Shego could see it in her eyes. She could remember those eyes.

"Hold still." Shego ordered. She wondered if the older girl would panic and run into the fire. Her fear of the monster so great.

"Stay still and stay low." Shego ordered. She pushed the girl down. Shego looked up. The tiles above the tub were still free of any flames. She leap up and stared to pull them down. Above them there was insulation, also free of any fire. She pulled some down. It all went into the tub and the girls soon had something other than the near boiling water to lie on.

She grabbed the tub and began to pull. Even for her strength it was hard to pull free from the wall. Then she made her way back to the hovercraft, walking through the hell again, pulling the tub behind her. She wondered how the girls were doing. The younger one was still screaming, the one she'd burned was quiet. She could smell flesh burning. She hoped it was just her own. The path she'd made coming in was blocked in places by falling debris. She cleared it again. Where she couldn't she made the smallest detour she could, blasting through the wall next to it.

It seemed to take forever to make it back to the hovercraft. The air from the entrance she'd made in the outer wall was feeding the flames. The fire around her intensified. She heard the older girl whimper. The younger girl was still screaming. There was no longer any smell of burning flesh. The hot air she breathed burned her nostrils, taking away any sense of smell.

She reached the hovercraft, stumbled into it, pulling the tub with her. She fell to the floor. The Buffoon closed the door and sent the hovercraft flying away from the building.

She looked up. The two girls had left the tub and was huddling in the far corner from her. She couldn't blame them. That tub must be hot and she was a monster. The girl she'd burned held the smaller girl protectively. Her eyes held terror, yet they dared Shego to even try and harm the one she held so protectively. Shego looked away, unable to face those eyes.

The Buffoon must have plotted a course to the nearest hospital while she inside that hell. It only took the craft seconds to reach it. The door opened and he was outside calling for help. The two girls disappeared into the arms of the nurses. When a nurse approached her she pushed her away.

"Buffoon, back in here. We got a job to do remember." She ordered. Seconds later he was back aboard and they were in the air. She noticed his worried look. "It's nothing." She said.

Ron stared at the burned form of Shego. The desire to return to the hospital and beg for help was nearly overwhelming.

"Don't worry, Buffoon. I can still stand and fight."

Ron looked at her. Despite the words he wasn't sure he believed her.

"Besides I got until tomorrow morning to heal. My body can heal a lot in that time. And don't look this way until I tell you too." At his wondering expression she answered. "I need to change and apply first aid." He blushed and looked away.

She slowly stripped out of her uniform. The damage wasn't as bad as she'd feared. Just a few layers of flesh gone. She used the first aid kit and treated the wounds. Unable to just stand around naked in front of the Buffoon she pulled on a clean uniform despite the way it agonized the burns.

Finished she told him he could look. She went and led down after ordering him to find food. She decided if he knew the controls of the hovercraft well enough to find the hospital he knew them well enough to find someplace with food. She was proved right. Ten minutes later he exited the craft and then reappeared five minutes after that with bags of food. She ate, her body demanding fuel for healing.

* * *

Morning came. They watched the news together. Some order had been restored to the city. The roads had been cleared and traffic was flowing once again. Most of it was out of the city. Emergency workers could get around and the fires were starting to come under control. Many building though had just been evacuated and allowed to burn. At the very least the hospitals and emergency shelters had electricity and water. Still, there were just so many resources to go around and things were still bad. Both Ron and Shego knew that soon that delicate order would be broken as Electronigue released her evil army upon the city again.

Ron stared at the monitor and knew his plan would have to be implemented as soon as possible. However, until Electronique was alone in the tower, it had no hope of success. There were seven villains in that building, all unhurt. There was no way he and Shego could face them. He looked at her. The night had done wonders for the damage her body had taken but the burns were still obvious and he knew they had to hurt.

It was nine in the morning when they left. The Wegos, Hego, Mego, Kim, and Mark. They headed for the city. Ron wondered why Electronique was senselessly destroying the city. Even for a villain it served no purpose. He set the hovercraft down beside the door of Go Tower. The two of them exited and Shego opened the door to the tower for them.

From Hego having had one of the devices plus Electronique having one he knew there could be more than one Reverse Polarizer in the building. If they could find one unguarded and snatch it then fine. If not they would have to fight her. They ended up running into Electronique.

"Shego." The woman exclaimed in surprise. "About time you showed up."

Shego tossed plasma at the woman, forcing her to dodge before she could aim the Reverse Polarizer and fire. "Why were you expecting me to show up?" She asked.

"You're a part of Team Ego, of course you would show up." Electronique aimed the device and fired.

"What?" Shego blinked and dodged the ray from the Reverse Polarizer. "No one told you I quit the team?"

"You quit?"

"Yeah. This is the first time I've been back in nearly five years." Shego tossed more plasma at the woman, forcing her to back away.

"No one told me." Electronique sounded stunned. "I had them out in the city stirring things up trying to drive you out." She aimed at Shego and fired.

"You mean that chaos out there was just to find me.? Shego dodged and more plasma got fired.

"Yeah. I'm turning all of Team Ego evil. You're the last one on my list." The woman dodged and then was forced back another step before she could use the Reverse Polarizer.

"Sorry to tell you but I'm already evil. I quit the team and went into villainy." Shego explained. She kept tossing plasma, trying not to hit the device the Buffoon needed.

"You're a villain. No one told me!" The shock froze Electonique long enough for Shego to hit her with plasma. Stunned she fell to the ground.

Ron grabbed the device and ran. Shego was right behind him. Blue bolts of energy blazed around them. It seemed Shego's plasma had only knocked the woman out for a split second. They entered the hovercraft and took off. Cloaked they could look down and see the woman shaking her fist at the sky.

"What now Buffoon?" Shego asked. Her wounds hurt and she wanted rest but if the Buffoon still needed her then she would help.

"Now I improve it a little."

"Improve something Electronique made? Is that possible?" Shego sounded doubtful.

"Of course it is Shego. There a lot of ways it can be improved."

"Such as?"

"Such as making the ray neutrino based so it can penetrate walls."

"You can do that?"

"I don't see why not." Ron answered. "Then we can just stand back in the hovercraft at a safe distance and change them back."

Shego went to rest. She was smart but the Buffoon was the one with the innate technological ingenuity.

It took four hours. The whole machine had to be practically rebuilt in order to use neutrinos. Still it was done. Electonique made it easy. She had called all six of her fellow subordinate villains back to Go Tower. Shego set the hovercraft to hover just a short distance above the tower and Ron started firing, using the hovercraft's sensors to aim. He converted all seven to being good, including Electronique.

Shego opened the door for them again and they walked into the control tower where everyone had been gathered.

Kim jumped to her feet upon seeing Shego.

"Now's not the time KP." Ron ordered.

"But..."

"Was everyone changed back to being good?" Ron asked. He looked around the room. No one seemed to be particularly evil.

"We're okay now." Mark answered him. "Something changed us back. They even made Electronique good."

Ron took the Reverse Polarizer and smashed it on the floor. It smashed to pieces. Everyone except Shego jumped.

"Good riddance." He looked at Hego. "If there are any more of those devices in this tower destroy them."

"But protocol number ninety-seven clearly dictates that..."

Ron decked him. "Destroy them." It wasn't a request. He thought of the chaos the city had just underwent. Of the two girls Shego had brought out of that burning building. Of the burns Shego had received.

"That was the only one." Electronique helpfully spoke up.

Ron looked at Hego. "Why didn't you just say that?"

The man was on the floor, rubbing his chin, looking surprised.

Ron looked at Kim. "You okay KP?" She looked tired but otherwise seemed okay to his eyes.

"I am." She reassured him. She looked at Shego. "Is she good too now?"

Shego lit her hands. "Not in a million years Princess."

Kim crouched down in a fighting stance.

Ron sighed. He saw the two Wegos staring at Shego. "Aren't you going to say hi to your sister?" He asked.

The two swarmed Shego. "Hi sis. We missed you."

She was forced to let the plasma fade from her hands. Kim couldn't hit her for fear of hitting the Wegos.

Shego knelt down and held the Wegos. "You guys okay?" She asked.

"We are." They answered back. She hugged them. She didn't want to ever let go.

Mission completed Team Possible soon departed. It was hard to get Kim to leave without first fighting Shego. Between then Ron and Mark convinced her.

Ron had a lot of explaining to do. He simply told them that despite being a villain Shego loved her brothers, the Wegos. That she had helped for their sake. It was true. She would, he knew, do anything for them. That the Shego everyone thought of as a villain was capable of love.

Kim refused to believe Shego was capable of love.

Ron had asked her what other explanation could there be. She'd been stumped.

He'd had to explain how he could knock down Hego. He'd pointed at the device on his wrist and explained how it worked. Kim had seemed surprised he could make such an item. Mark hadn't seemed the least bit surprised.

* * *

He sat back on the grass. He'd spent an hour on exercises, an hour on meditation. He was too tired to do anything else other than sit back and stare up at the sky. He doubted Shego would come. Not with her injuries. As usual he was proved wrong.

The door of the hovercraft opened and she stepped out. She moved slowly, carefully. She entered the house and exited with a plate of food and some coffee. She sat back to eat.

"Thanks." She finally said.

"For what?"

"For helping me with the Wegos. Making them good again. It's okay if I'm a villain hiding in a lair. It's not okay for them."

"You helped me get Mark and Kim back to normal." He pointed out.

"A beneficial relationship."

"A beneficial relationship." He agreed. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay. Two days, three at the most, and I will be as good as new."

"You know that little girl in that building?"

Shego froze. "What about her?"

"She looked an awful lot like the older girl. I'll bet they're sisters." He looked at Shego. "She might always remember you as the one who burned her but she will also remember you as the one who saved her little sister."

Shego thought about it. "You think?" She finally asked.

"I'm sure of it."

She rose to leave. She turned to him and her lips met his, briefly, gently. She pulled away. "Thanks." She'd said again. She disappeared into the hovercraft. Inside she let the craft hover for a few seconds before she left for the lair. She'd watched the startled look on the Buffoon's face. Watched to see how he reacted. She didn't think he was displeased. That made her happy.

* * *

End of Chapter.


	12. Chapter 12

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

_**Kim and Shego? Really? KiGo? No Way! Or Motor Ed Arrives.**_

Ron sat at the school cafeteria with Kim and Mark sitting across from him. The usual arrangement. All three were busy eating the lunch Ron had prepared the night before. A simple salad with some fried chicken. It wasn't fancy but it filled the stomach. The topic of the day was the future.

"Have you decided what colleges you're going to apply for?" Kim asked Ron.

"Not yet. There's still plenty of time." In truth he really didn't know. Once he had been certain a culinary institution was what lay in his future. Now something that dealed with technology also had appeal. It was a hard choice for him to make.

"Don't put it off too long Ron." Kim warned.

"It's not as though any school won't jump at the chance to have him." Mark pointed out.

"True." Kim agreed. Ron's grades so far this year were second only to Justin's. She recalled how once she'd had to nag at him to study enough to keep his grades at a decent level. He had certainly changed. She looked at the wristlet he wore. He had changed a lot.

"How about you KP?" Ron asked.

"I haven't decided yet, either." She admitted. "I know joining Global Justice was what I once dreamed of but for some reason that just doesn't seem important anymore. I would have needed some technology courses for that. Now..." She shrugged.

"Your plans still the same." Ron asked Mark.

"Yeah. My own Dojo. I don't need any more courses for that."

Ron nodded. Mark had his future planned and was prepared.

Ron looked at Kim out of the corner of his eyes. She was busy chewing her lower lip, deep in thought. He decided to tweak her a bit. "Guess I could always go into the villain business." He said.

"Ron. That's not funny." Kim knew he was joking.

"But Zorpox was pretty good at it." He pointed out.

"You're not Zorpox." Kim countered.

"Look at Drakken, if he can make it in the business I'm sure I could." Ron argued.

"Why would you?" Kim asked.

"The pay is good. Just rob a bank." Ron argued.

"But..."

"Can set your own hours."

"But..."

"And just think of Drakken. He has Shego by his side. What guy wouldn't want that?"

Kim's eyes went wide at that one. "Ron." She screamed.

"Just pointing out the facts KP."

"Well don't use that mutant in them. What guy would want her by their side?" She turned to Mark. "Would you want her by your side?" She demanded.

"I'm quite happy with you Kim." Mark answered.

"See." Kim retorted to Ron. Then she paused as she realized Mark hadn't really answered her question. She looked at him.

Mark stared daggers across the table at Ron.

Ron shrugged and mouthed the word, 'Sorry.'

Kim was still looking at Mark. Ron figured he needed to play the distraction again.

"I wonder who's smarter. Drakken or Mr. Dr. P?" He said, half to himself, just loud enough to get Kim's attention.

Kim turned on him. "Drakken's an idiot!" She stated.

"Idiots don't develop things like synthodrones KP. Those are pretty much on the same level as cybertronic technology. Drakken isn't an idiot, he's just forgetful. He rushes things and forgets the details."

"My father's develops rockets." Kim pointed out. Eyes blazing.

Ron shrugged. "Drakken developed fusion powered hovercrafts."

"But..."

"And developed cloaking devices that could fit on them."

"But..."

"And cloning devices."

"But..."

"Relax KP. I'm just joking with you." He smiled at her. "So if not Global Justice then any idea at all on what you want to do?"

Kim pouted. Mark sat back in relief.

"There are so many possibilities. So many I think I would like. I'm stumped." She admitted.

Ron wasn't surprised. The Kim he knew could never sit still. She had to juggle a dozen different things at the same time. Of course she was usually smart enough to handle doing just that.

The wall of the cafeteria vanished. A large man with blonde hair and a mullet drove in on a three wheeled vehicle that was about ten feet tall. It had a laser cannon mounted on each side.

"Red." Motor Ed screamed. "I know you've been missing around with my woman behind my back. Seriously! That is wrong."

Ron looked at Kim. "Anything you want to tell Mark about?" He asked.

Kim's eyes were wide."I never..." Her voice trailed off.

"Who was it?" Ron asked Kim.

"Shego. My main babe." Motor Ed answered for Kim.

"Well... That's unexpected." Ron admitted.

Kim exploded. "I wouldn't be seen dead with that green faced mutant." She screamed. She launched herself at Ed but was forced to jump back as the laser cannons began to fire at her. Thankfully the rest of the students had had sense enough to evacuate the cafeteria as soon as the wall exploded. Kim jumped around, avoiding the cannons.

Ron looked at Motor Ed who was entirely focused on firing the lasers at Kim. He picked up a piece of Mystery Meat from an adjacent table and flung it in the face of the mayhem focused man.

Motor Ed gagged. He looked at what had hit him. "Seriously Dude. What is this? It's gross."

Kim flipped up beside the distracted mechanical genius and kicked him out of his seat. He landed on the floor hard. Kim jumped down and kicked him again.

"Seriously Red. Take it easy." Motor Ed gasped. Kim wasn't holding back.

Kim kicked him some more. The thought of her and that ... She shuddered and kicked the downed man again. And then again.

"Whoa Kim. Stop. You don't want to hurt him." Ron grabbed Kim and pulled her away from the downed villain. Mark had her hold by the other arm and was pulling her back too.

"But he said I and she.. that we..." Kim shuddered.

"We will never find out why he thinks that if you kill him Kim." Ron looked at Motor Ed. "Speak."

"Seriously dude. You know it's wrong."

Ron sighed. "Just why do you think Kim and Shego are making out?" He heard a growl come from Kim.

"They're together each night. Six to eleven. Seriously dude."

Ron considered the situation. His and Kim's house were only a few hundred meters apart. Since he, the Buffoon, was beneath the attention of villains Motor Ed obviously thought Shego was parking her hovercraft in a safe place and heading over to Kim's place. He sighed.

"There's no way that could be happening." Ron explained. "Kim is with Mark most nights. Besides, she has twin brothers who keep track of her every location."

"Seriously dude?"

"Seriously." Ron answered him.

Suddenly Motor Ed kicked out. His feet caught Kim and she went flying. He pulled out a device and dropped it, sending Mark and Ron running for cover. Running he gained the seat of his ride and took off. "Sorry Red. My mistake." He called out as the vehicle vanished.

The device exploded a second later. Everyone had taken cover and emerged unscathed.

Kim spent the rest of the school day cursing Shego and Motor Ed.

* * *

Ron sat back on the grass thinking. Motor Ed had claimed that Kim and Shego were together every night from six to eleven. Thankfully he hadn't said where he thought they were together. Since Kim was rarely home no one would link his house to Shego. That was good. Still Motor Ed was tracking Shego somehow. Probably with a tracking device. It would have to be found. He knew their current relationship couldn't last forever. He did, however, want it to last as long as possible.

He thought back on the last month. That first kiss had been amazing. As brief as it had been it had taken his breath away. Things had changed since then. Now when they rested on the grass and gazed at the sky they sat closer together. Sometimes she would rest her head against him. Sometimes he would rest his against her. Their hands were often touching. And there was kissing. He had somehow fallen into a paradise that couldn't last. While it did he would enjoy every moment of it. He recalled the way she felt in his arms.

Shego had told him about the monkey gang and their fate. For some reason his nightmares were getting better. He doubted it was due to the way the gang was suffering. No, he thought it had more to do with Shego caring enough, being there. He was no longer alone.

He knew now what the matchbox did for Shego. She'd told him. Not that she needed it any more. She'd been captured by Global Justice. It had taken her three days to break out. During those three days, she'd told him, she hadn't had the nightmares she usually did. What she'd dreamt of was that building. Her flesh burning, pulling the tub. But in the dream she'd known there was an end to the dream. That she would reach the hovercraft. He could tell she found that preferable to the nightmares of old. For one thing she'd called it a dream, not a nightmare. That somehow it was cleansing. Not a nightmare at all.

* * *

Shego dropped the hovercraft to the ground and looked out at the Buffoon. She too recalled the past month.

The time she'd spent with the Buffoon. The touching. The holding. The kissing. Heaven.

She'd returned to Go Tower a few times. She hadn't spoken with Hego but had visited the Wegos. She'd seen how much they'd missed her and was touched. She'd found she still liked playing with them.

On one of those trips back to the Tower she found a letter had been delivered for her. On it was a single word. 'Why?' She'd talked that one over with the Buffoon. He'd guessed that the unknown was often more terrifying simply for being unknown. That it might help that girl if she knew why Shego had hurt her. Shego had gathered her courage and written back, explaining everything. A week later another letter had arrived for her. It contained a single flower, pressed and preserved. It had been white, the color for forgiveness. Shego had cried, thought she hadn't told the Buffoon that.

She stepped out of the hovercraft and sat down beside him. Food could wait for a little bit. His hand reached over to hers.

"Problem, Shego." Ron spoke.

"Oh?" Her heart went still. If Princess had found out she wondered what the Buffoon would do. She didn't think he would end the relationship that was developing between them but it would make things more difficult. For one thing Global Justice would know where to find her. And he would be in trouble for not reporting her.

"Motor Ed is tracking you."

"Oh. How do you know?"

Ron explained what had happened and added. "Only way he could know where you're at is if it's a tracking device."

"Yeah." Shego agreed. She pulled the Buffoon into the hovercraft. They should get out of the yard before Motor Ed showed up there.

Shego took out the black hair gel and the skin gel and tossed it to him. It was followed by contact lenses and a change of clothes. "If Motor Ed sees the Buffoon it's all over." She explained.

Ron put on his disguise. "How could he have managed to find you and get a tracking device on this thing though?"

"I'm wondering that myself." Shego admitted. "If I'm not in your yard I'm either on a job or tucked safely in a lair." She lit a fist. "But I know who can tell us the answers."

"So all we do is go somewhere and wait for him to show up?"

"Yeah. If he can track me then he will show up."

"He's been tracking you for a while now and he hasn't shown up." Ron pointed out.

Shego sighed. "Who knows how he thinks. But if he made a move on Kimmie earlier today I'm thinking he'll make a move on me tonight."

"So where are we going to wait?"

"An open place. Maybe the parking lot of a nearby mall. Or maybe a park. However fast his ride is I doubt it can fly at supersonic speeds. I don't want to wait forever." She sent the hovercraft heading to the Middleton Park area and set it to hover ten meters from the ground.

The two of them sat back to wait, hands touching.

Ron looked out at the landscape. The park was nice. A few walking trails twisted among the trees with a few streams ran through the area. They eventually emptied out into a lake. From the lake there flowed one river that eventually emptied into the ocean. It was he thought a nice make-out spot. He turned towards Shego and ran his hand through her hair. Soon they were completely unaware of what was going on below.

* * *

"Shego my babe. I know you're here. Show yourself. Seriously." The voice boomed out, loud even in the hovercraft.

Ron and Shego immediately parted and looked down. There was Motor Ed, approaching on his three wheeled vehicle. He was using a bullhorn that was connected to very huge speakers.

"Seriously Shego. I know you're here. Why won't you answer?"

Shego sighed and rubbed her forehead. That motor-crazed lunatic was going to pay. She dropped the hovercraft lower and stepped out. She tossed plasma at the oversized vehicle he was on.

"Seriously babe. Don't hurt the Roadster. Let go for a ride together babe."

"Shego? Motor Ed?" Came a familiar voice from behind her.

Shego whirled around. Princess? What was she doing here? She looked at the smeared lipstick and thought, _Probably the same thing the Buffoon and I were doing just a few seconds ago._ She noticed the bench the two must have been on. _Probably arrived when the Buffoon and I were distracted, _she realized. Princess' boy toy was a few steps behind her.

Kim crouched down in a fighting stance. Shego immediately followed suit.

Motor Ed finally reached them, his Roadster crushing small trees beneath it. He looked at the two of them. "I knew it." He screamed. "Seriously Red. Why are you trying to steal my woman from me? That is so wrong."

"Are you crazy?" Kim screamed. "She's my enemy."

"You lunatic." Shego screamed. She threw plasma at Motor Ed who ducked.

"Seriously. Don't try to lie. You're both here and you both got smeared lipstick. Seriously Red. Stealing a man's woman."

Kim looked at Shego and realized she did have smeared lipstick. _Why would her lipstick be smeared, _she wondered.

Shego looked at Kimmie. "Guess it's our misfortune to have picked the same make-out spot Princess."

Kim looked at the hovercraft. There was someone inside. She looked back at Shego. She looked back inside the hovercraft. Then she looked at Motor Ed. _There are guys that find Shego attractive, _she realized. Well, she'd always known the woman was attractive. But she was a villain for goodness sake. She wondered if the guy inside the hovercraft was anything like Motor Ed. He was a lunatic so maybe ... She leapt out of the way as Motor Ed turned his Roadster's lasers on her.

Shego watched the show for a bit. Princess trying to get close to Motor Ed only to be driven back by the laser. Princess seemed really pissed. Not that she could blame her. She was too. To think she would ... Shego shuddered. She would have watched the show longer but she knew the Buffoon was watching and he would refuse to let Princess get hurt.

Shego lit her fists and started to toss plasma at the vehicle. Motor Ed kept low where her plasma couldn't reach. She tried to run up and fire down point blank in his hiding hole but one of the lasers switched to her. Soon she too was dodging.

"See." Motor Ed cried out. "You're working together. Seriously! This is wrong. Come back to me Shego baby. I'm way better than Red."

Mark tried to run up the side of the vehicle and tackle Motor Ed. The lasers focused on him for a second and he was sent flying back.

"Mark." Kim screamed.

"I'm okay Kim." He retreated back as the laser focused on his again.

Kim ran for the Roadster again but the ground was suddenly covered in small devices that she recognized. She leapt to one side as they exploded. _The defenses on that thing are pretty good, _she realized.

Shego, flinging ball after ball of plasma at the over sized vehicle, was thinking the same thing. It seemed the lunatic had designed it with her plasma in mind. It was plasma resistant.

Ron watched the fight get out of hand. He figured Shego would soon go all out and end up burned. Plus there was the real possibility of someone getting hurt. He close the door and the vessel cloaked. He sent it hovering over the Roadster, opened the door, and jumped down, inside the cockpit. System full of strength and speed boosts he toss Motor Ed out of the Roadster so that he slid down its side to the ground. Then he leapt back into the hovercraft.

Motor Ed slid down the side of his new ride. He could see two woman below him waiting, murder in their eyes. He knew this was going to hurt. He was right.

Kim leapt forward and kicked him.

Shego lit her plasma and started throwing it.

"Seriously!": The cowed man cried out. "I'm sorry. I won't try to break you two apart again. Seriously."

This made the two women angrier.

Ron sighed. They were going to kill the guy. Then there were going to kill each other. At least that was the way he saw this turning out. He wondered just how good his disguise was. He landed the hovercraft and walked out. _At least they won't recognize me by my voice, _he thought. With all the practice at throwing his voice he knew how to alter it pretty good. _Now if only the rest of the disguise holds up._

Kim looked up as the guy she knew Shego had been making out with walked out of the hovercraft. Dark hair with a tan. Blue colored eyes. Black pants with a green shirt. She noted every detail so she could have Wade find out who he was.

Ron walked over and looked down at Motor Ed. He was pretty bruised but otherwise looked okay. _He would probably have a strong fear of woman for a while though_, Ron thought. He noticed Kim looking at him and ignored her.

He knelt beside the battered villain. "How did you put the tracking device on Shego's hovercraft?" He asked.

Motor Ed stared back. He kept silent.

Ron felt Shego light her fists behind him.

"Seriously dude. It was fate." Ed replied. "I was going to hit a place for some parts and you know lady luck shined down on me. My babe was there. I saw her leave her ride and I just placed the device on it. Seriously dude."

Ron pointed at Kim and then at Mark. "What do you see?" He asked.

Motor Ed looked puzzled.

Ron sighed. "That guy has the same color lipstick smeared on his face as Red does." He pointed out.

"Seriously? So Red wasn't making out with my babe?"

"Look at my face and look at Shego's face." Ron ordered.

Motor Ed looked. His eyes went wide. Shego's lipstick was smeared on Ron's face. "Seriously dude. You were making out with my woman? That is so wrong."

Ron sighed. He had never thought he would ever get into a physical fight over a woman. But that was the only language Motor Ed knew. He stood up and beckoned for Motor Ed to get up.

"She's not your woman." Ron stated. "She decides who she wants to be with. If you got something against that then now's the chance for you to settle it." He waited.

Motor Ed looked at the little guy who stood in front of him. He couldn't be serious. He was half the size Motor Ed was. "Seriously dude. Stealing a man's woman is wrong." he charged.

Ron didn't waste any movement or time. He struck and Motor Ed went flying backwards. He landed on his back, looking surprised.

Slowly Motor Ed got to his feet. "Seriously dude." He charged again with the same result. He did that seven times before he gave up and remained down.

Ron looked at the Roadster and analyzed its construction until everything made sense. He ran up its side and reach in. He turned the power to the engine on full and then pulled out some wires. He slid back down and let the wires fall to the ground.

"I suggest everyone run." He calmly told the group on the ground. To him it looked like Kim and Shego were about to fight.

"Why?" Kim asked.

"What did you do?" Shego asked.

"Oh. Just set the energy flow to the engine to maximum and pulled out the control wires."

"What?" Motor Ed was back on his feet. He looked at the Roadster and the wires on the ground. "Oh my poor ride." He screamed and took off running.

Kim thought that wasn't a good sign. She grabbed Mark and they both started running.

Ron and Shego jumped in the hovercraft and lifted off.

Twenty seconds later Motor Ed's Roadster left a huge hole in the ground as it exploded.

* * *

They sat the hovercraft down twenty kilometers away. It took an hour to find the tracking device. Shego studied it. It must have been something Ed himself cooked up because Drakken had anti-tracking devices installed on the hovercraft. It would have detected anything used by Global Justice. She crushed it and then vaporized the remains. That tracking device had caused a lot of trouble.

"Guess that's that." Ron stated.

"Guess so. Wish I had fried him some more. Imagine me and Princess." Shego shuddered.

Ron laughed.

"Not funny Buffoon."

"Sure it was Shego."

Shego lit her fists. "Was not."

"Was too." He walked to her ignoring the plasma. "You know when you're angry or embarrassed you turn even greener. It's cute." He kissed her. "Really cute." He added. He kissed her some more.

An hour later they were back in his backyard. She went in and ate while he washed and changed clothes. Then they both sat back on the grass and watched the stars. She rested her head on his shoulder and was content. He too was content. The stars were beautiful.

* * *

End of Chapter.

A big jump from a first kiss but I don't think Shego, once she'd made up her mind, would be too hesitant. As for Ron, this is something he wants too. Remember this Ron is more confident and once Shego had shown interest he would have responded. It would have progressed pretty quickly from that point. They are still at the make-out point though. Not yet deep within a relationship.

Shego has closure on how she burned an innocent. Ron's nightmares are fading thanks to Shego.

As for Monkey Fist appearing. I have yet to decide what the next chapter will be about other than one point that brings their relationship closer. Monkey Fist might be in it.

Ron's Monkey Kung Fu powers in this story aren't all that great compared to the show. So far he has increased speed and strength. But not up to that of Kim or Shego. He is also a technological whiz at constructing devices. They will develop a bit further, but not too much further. Of course if he were to combine what he already has, increased speed/strength with technology he would be more than a match for either Kim or Shego. I could say more but it would give away a part of the story.


	13. Chapter 13

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

_**Ron and Shego in the Lair, Gill makes an appearance**_

Ron sat across the kitchen table from Shego. She was eating while he was modifying the wristlet. He wondered if he should give it a name. Just calling it a wristlet seemed sort of plain. He decided it didn't really matter. It was what something did that was important, not the name assigned to it._ Probably why Drakkens's plots fail, _he thought. _He's so busy thinking up a name for the device that he misses the more important details._

He recalled the night before. It had been raining so the two of them had spent the evening inside, talking. They had watched some tv in his room. It was the only tv in the house. His father thought tvs were a passing fad. With the tv going, totally content, they had fallen asleep. He had woke up this morning with her in his arms. It had been surreal. He had watched her sleep. Her soft breathing, the content smile on her face. The feel of her in his arms. The dangerous game they were playing definitely had its rewards. During the night not once had the nightmare disturbed his sleep.

Nothing serious had happened but that was where they were headed. The time would come when they would no longer be just girlfriend/boyfriend. They would be lovers. There was no rush. At the moment he was quite content to be where he was, with her.

He had learned her age last night. It was something he should have already known. He had had all the information he needed. She had been sixteen when she graduated highschool, skipping two years. She had spent a year as a thief and then hired on with Drakken for what had been nearly four years. She was twenty-one. He would soon be eighteen. Just a little over three years difference. It was, he thought, an okay difference in age.

He finished making a few adjustments to the wristlet and put it on. He held up his hand and looked at Shego. "Zap me." She did so. The wristlet worked to perfection. It detected the incoming energy and used it to make a counter frequency. The same as before. But now it could handle a greater amount of power and focus the counter frequency into a narrower beam. The changes enabled it to act as a small force field. He had also added capacitors which used his body heat to recharge. It allowed him to counter a large amount of energy once, and then smaller amounts for an unlimited number of times. The capacitors could also be used during a punch, delivering an attack that would always find the weakness of someone supercharged with comet powers like Hego.

Shego studied the wristlet the Buffoon was wearing while she continued to eat her breakfast. It was interesting. They had sparred a few times with him wearing it. He might not have her speed and strength but that device neutralized her endurance. When one of his punches landed it could hurt her just the same as it had when he hit Hego. Of course with her he pulled his punches when wearing the device. She would bet that with an all out punch, boosted by those capacitors he had just added, he could knock her or Hego out cold. Easily so. He was pretty strong.

She took a bite of egg. It looked like just a simple egg, fried, but the taste was very unique and good. She wondered what the Buffoon had done with it. She recalled the way she had woke, cuddled up in his arms. It had been heaven.

She eyed the wristlet again. "You know if you made a suit with gadgets like that you would be pretty much unbeatable."

"Sure, but where would I get the parts? They're expensive." Ron replied.

'"Steal them." She suggested.

He smiled. He knew she was joking. Or half joking anyway.

She sighed. "Time to head back to the lair. Drakken is probably wondering where I'm at, and you should get too school."

Ron nodded. "Guess so." He replied reluctantly. It still took them ten minutes to get out the door. Exactly how long the good-bye kiss lasted.

* * *

Ron watched Rufus as he jumped around the school cafeteria. He had polished off the lunch Ron had brought for him and then started gobbling down every piece of mystery meat he could find unattended in the cafeteria. The little guy was back to a hundred percent but Ron still didn't let him come on missions. For one thing he never knew whether he should treat Shego as a friend or foe. Whether to attack her when Ron and Shego were sparring, or to run up to her in a lair and say 'cheese.'

"He seems to be better." Kim commented.

"Yeah. That's one worry off my shoulders." Ron replied.

"You going to let him go on missions with us again?"

"Not for the time being." Ron answered.

Kim nodded. Rufus had been a big help a lot of times but she understood Ron's worry. Besides, Ron had more than stepped up enough to make up for Rufus not being there. "You modified the wristlet?" She asked. It looked a little different.

"Yeah. Added a few extra features and made it so can it handle more power."

"Still no parts to make one for me and Mark?" She'd asked him to. The device was amazing. Shego would really feel a hit from that if she had one.

"Sorry, KP. The parts are pretty expensive and the compound the antenna is made out of is very rare. I could probably get the parts from your father if he knew it would help your missions but the antenna is a whole different matter." It was true, the antenna was made out of a very rare compound that was neither metal nor crystal but a combination of both. And the wiring to convert the energy had to be made out of the same material. He didn't have a single gram of it left.

He looked at the wristlet. "Actually I'm not even sure where the material for this one's antenna came from. It was just lying around in a bunch of parts left over from things the twins and Felix had made and left over at my place." He shuddered. "Just how many contraptions of theirs did I test I wonder?"

Kim grinned. She knew it was a lot. He and Rufus had been the tweebs' guinea pig quite a few times. Not to mention for Wade and Felix at times. It was a wonder he was still in one piece. It must have taken a lot of courage for him to test some of the things they'd come up with.

"I could still make things if I had the parts. Just not one of those. That, along with the stuff Wade makes, should help out on the missions some."

"I'll speak to my father about it." Kim agreed happily. She liked the stuff Wade came up with and Ron seemed to be on the same level as Wade when it came to that sort of thing.

Ron looked at Mark. "Of course you could always accept DNAmy's offer to upgrade you. Bat wings and gorilla arms." He grinned.

"No thanks." Mark shuddered. "I doubt Kim would approve of gorilla arms."

"I wouldn't." Kim stated. "I like him just the way he is."

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Kim flipped open her Kimmunicator and turned it on. "What's the sitch?" She asked.

"It's Drakken again Kim."

"What's it this time?"

"He's stolen a crystal and used it to make a laser cannon. It will have enough power to punch through the earth's crust." Wade paused.

"Where he get the crystal?" Ron asked.

"There's a company researching how to make artificial diamonds. They've developed a method to create a perfect diamond of any size."

"And it can punch through the earth's crust?"

"At its weak spots the earth's crust is only seven kilometers thick. The laser can penetrate to a dept of eleven kilometers. He will be able to wipe out whole cities at the push of a button." Wade explained.

"Got a ride ready?" Kim asked.

"It's just thirty kilometers from your location. I suggest you take your car."

"Okay. Give us directions." The redhead ordered.

* * *

The lair was pretty typical for Drakken's lairs. A place that was supposed to be hidden, but wasn't. It didn't take the trio long to arrive at the main lab of the lair.

"Kim Possible!" Drakken exclaimed.

Ron looked around. He spotted Shego standing a few steps behind Drakken who had been working at a console of some sort. He forced his eyes off her. The center of the room was taken up by what was probably the laser. He looked at it. _Impressive, _he thought.

"Give it up Drakken. It's over." Kim Possible was ready to jump into action. As usual.

"It's my greatest plan yet Kim Possible. You're no match for me this time." He pointed and ten synthodrones rushed into the room.

_Only ten_, Ron thought as he and Mark moved into action. _He knows that isn't nearly enough to overwhelm us_. He was cautious. Something was off here. He stepped back from his attack and tried to warn Mark to do the same. It was too late. Mark stepped up behind one of the synthodrones and punched. There was green goo. There was also a cloud of gas that erupted and enveloped Mark who fell unconscious to the ground.

Ron ran from the four synthodrones that were trying to close with him. _Booby-traps, _he realized. if we take one down we get taken down ourselves. If we don't then eventually we tire and they get to beat us up. He kept running away from them. Thankfully he only had four to avoid. He saw Kim was easily avoiding the five that was trying to close with her.

Looking Ron noticed Shego was smiling at him. She was obviously wondering how he was going to get out of this one. The self-destruct was right behind her. It would be hard to reach. _But, _he thought, _who needs a self-destruct when they got a mega laser cannon to use. If only I had time to use it. _Drakken he saw was fiddling with the machine.

He rushed at Drakken, grabbed him, and tossed him in the path of the synthodrones. Two of them went down. He easily avoided the third. When Drakken stood up he grabbed him again and tossed him once more into the path of the synthetic men. Once again two of them were tripped. He repeated the process again. It kept Drakken from working on the machine and it kept the synthodrones from him.

"Stop that! Stop that!" Drakken was yelling as he was tossed around. "Shego help."

"Dr. D." Shego calmly explained. "I'm supposed to guard the self-destruct remember. You're on your own here." She did however toss a few balls of plasma the Buffoon's way, just to make things more interesting. She wondered how long the two heroes could keep it up. Princess was wasting way too much energy each time she jumped away from the five chasing her. She would tire in no time. Then all the synthodrones would be free to chase the Buffoon who was more conservative in his use of energy. _However, _she thought, _the Buffoon will come up with something. _She was right.

Ron saw the synthodrones trip over Drakken again and had an idea. _If I can control where they fall then..._ He looked around the lab and saw that the laser cannon had several sharp spikes pointing out of each side. _To feed energy into the machine, _he thought, his mind immediately analyzing their purpose. He had another purpose in mind. The next time he used Drakken to trip the synthodrones he planned it so that one of them would fall on one of the sharp edges. It exploded, releasing the gas. There were now three chasing him. With Drakken now fast asleep he was of no use.

Shego watched and sighed. She tossed a few more plasma balls. Some at the Princess, some at the Buffoon. Neither of them had any trouble avoiding them. The Buffoon used a chair to trip another synthodrone. It fell on a spike and exploded. _For him two down and two to go_, she thought._ Still zero down and five to go for the Princess._

Kim noticed the trick Ron was using and started to use it herself. She started kicking chairs around, tripping the synthodrones onto the spikes, keeping a safe distance from their booby-traps. _And Ron comes through again, _she thought.

Shego started tossing all the plasma she could at Princess. At least within the limits she set herself.

Kim was having trouble. Still having three synthodrones after her and having to avoid the plasma was too much. Just as she kicked a chair to bring down a third the plasma hit her. Then the two remaining synthodrones were on her. One of their booby-traps went off and she was fast asleep.

Ron meanwhile had eliminated the remaining two chasing him. _Glad these chairs are nearly unbreakable and reusable, _he thought as the last remaining synthodrone closed in on him. He took a position directly across from Shego, with the machine in between them. It acted as a shield against her plasma. He kicked a chair and the last synthodrone expired.

"Well done, Buffoon." Shego congratulated him.

"Thanks Shego."

"However you still lose. Drakken will wake up and resume his plan."

"Have you looked at that laser lately?" Ron asked.

Shego looked. Having nine synthodrone fall on it hadn't done much physical damage. But while the synthodrones had carried canisters of gas they had been mainly goo. The machine was covered in it.

"Hrm. I guess all that goo isn't good for the machine." She sighed. The laser would need a lot of work before it could fire.

"What was it called anyway? We didn't give Drakken time to get into his rant."

Shego thought for a second. "I'm not sure. Mega Laser, or something like that. I didn't really pay attention."

"Well, if he tries firing it now all the energy is just going to go into the machine and heat it up. It would explode. The goo has jammed everything."

"He can build another so long as he has the diamond."

"True." Ron reached up and pulled the diamond from the top of the machine.

"Hey." Shego replied to the action.

"So what now?" Ron asked.

"We could fight but that would leave the self-destruct unguarded." She looked down at the three sleeping forms on the floor. "Of course if you hit that you would have two people to carry out."

"I could manage to drag them."

Shego looked at the Mega laser. The Buffoon was still hidden behind it. Safe from her plasma.

"Thought if I wanted to hit a self-destruct all I would need to do is turn the laser on." The Buffoon spoke from his hiding place.

"Hrm. True." Shego admitted.

"How long will that stuff keep them out for?"

"An hour. Maybe less for Princess' boy toy."

"So we wait?"

"We wait." Shego agreed.

"You know, seeing all these parts lying around is almost enough to make me want to be a villain. Just imagine what I can build with them." Ron drooled at the sight.

Shego laughed. It felt good. True laughter was a skill she had only just started relearning. "There's a lot more where these came from."

"Where does Drakken get all these parts anyway."

"Mostly from Hench Co. Rob a few banks, make a few million, then buy the parts. Some though are specially ordered, as in I got to steal them from various places."

"I just realized something." Ron admitted.

"Oh." Shego asked.

"Soon as Kim and Mark start to wake up you can just knocked them out with your plasma. Of course Drakken is on my side of the laser so I can keep knocking him out. This waiting game will never end."

"You just noticed that Buffoon? About time."

"Blame it on the company. You're very distracting."

Shego smiled. "So what now then."

"I guess I hit the self-destruct." Ron answered.

"We fight?" Shego asked.

"Nay. I mean the laser. It will give us about a minute to get out. Maybe two."

"That's no fun." Shego pouted.

"Sure it is Shego. Just think of all the villainous jobs Drakken will have for you. He will need to replace all these parts after all."

"True." She admitted. "If the lairs didn't get blown up I would be pretty bored with nothing to do."

Ron flipped the switch that turned the laser on and then smashed it. "Time to get out." He call to Shego. He ran to Kim and dragged her to the door. He then dragged Mark to the door. Mark, he noted, weighed a ton. Then he dragged them both away from the lair before the laser exploded. He had taken note of Shego grabbing Drakken and fleeing too.

A hovercraft dropped down in front of him. "Later Buffoon." Shego's voice came from it.

"Later Shego." Ron replied. He watched the craft disappear. It would, he realized, be a lot more fun to be in it with her. He sat down on the ground. Both Kim and Mark seemed to be fine, just asleep.

* * *

Shego slowed the hovercraft and looked back for a few seconds. The Buffoon was sitting on the ground, waiting for his friends to wake up. She wished he was in the hovercraft with her. She looked down at Drakken. She would get him to one of his backup lairs. Given how fast they got destroyed he had quite a few. Then she would be busy gathering items for him. It would be late before she got to the Buffoon's tonight. She sighed.

She recalled the last month. The making-out had gotten more intense. She knew soon they would take that next step. Maybe tonight. She didn't want to rush things though. She would be careful to wait until he was ready. She was no longer existing from day to day in a lair. She was hoping, dreaming. She was afraid that the dream would crumble. So she would be careful. No dream lasted forever, but she would make sure this one lasted as long as it could.

She set the hovercraft on autopilot and sat back. She watched the ground pass below. At the speed she was going not much could be seen. It came and went before the eye could register it. It was hypnotic. She sat back and thought about her future.

She was no longer sure she wanted to be a villain. That was irrelevant though. Once a villain always a villain. There was no turning back. Global Justice was not about to forgive her transgressions. Nor would the other dozen or so countries she was wanted in. She was sure she didn't want to be a hero. There were two types of heroes. The cartoonish ones like her brother Hego who believed justice always triumphed over evil. Who had silly ideals. His kind could never burn out. They were too far gone from reality. Then there was Princess. Those kind either got out of the game early, if they were wise, or they burned out. She thought that Princess was wise. She would get out of the game.

She'd once had a pretty good life and had thrown it away. She knew that now. She'd had options other than Hego. She could have went to Mego. Sure he was self-centered but he was more of a realist. He would have helped. He was good at convincing Hego of things when he wanted to. And he could have stayed with the Wegos, shrunk, and kept an eye on them. Or, she could have even gone to Dr. Betty Director. She had done a few good deeds for Global Justice. She had even talked to Dr. Betty Director a few times. She could have asked for help there. She hadn't. Instead she had hurt that girl and then taken her guilt over it out on Hego.

Where did that leave her now if she wanted a life with the Buffoon? She sighed. Not in a very good position, was the only answer she could come up with.

The hovercraft slowed and she took control. They were at the new lair.

* * *

Ron sat working at the kitchen table. He'd sorted through the parts he had, went begging at the tweebs and then went crawling to Felix. He had amassed enough items to build a few things. Not much but something. What he'd decided on was a simple gauntlet. Nothing fancy. Just something that would store mechanical energy and then allow the user to release it in a punch. Either as kinetic energy or as electrical energy. It would, he thought, have come in useful with those beefed up synthodrones and synthobots Drakken and Dementor had come up with. The extra power of the punch would have allowed them to compensate for the extra armor the synthodrones had had.

The gauntlet could be charged through an electrical outlet or by the wear's body movements such as flexing the fingers or the arm. Depending on how high the user set the output it would allow one punch at ten times normal strength, or ten punches at double their normal strength. Given how strong Mark was Ron thought he would like it.

After it was finished he studied it. Ten punches was better than nothing but still not a lot he decided. He added the ability to recharge through the warmth of the user's hand and added the ability to plug in a battery that would give an extra punch at ten times normal strength per battery. Given Mark's strength he figured the guy could just carry a few batteries. Besides, unless he wanted to kill someone he wouldn't be using it at ten times the normal power.

He went into the backyard to give it a test.

"Hello dweeb." Came a familiar voice.

Ron didn't even both to look before he was dodging. He knew Gill would already be throwing slime. He was right. Some hit the spot he'd been standing in.

"Hello Gill." He replied, looking over at the mutated boy, ready to dodge again.

"Afraid dweeb?" The mutant smiled. He wanted to see the dweeb frightened.

Ron flooded his system with strength and speed boosts. Then he set the gauntlet's output to ten times normal. Focusing he brought his hand down on a boulder the size of a large grocery cart. It shattered into dozens of pieces. "Not really." He answered the mutant.

The mutant's eyes went wide. He ran. "I'll be back dweeb." He yelled behind him.

Ron shrugged and proceeded to throughly test the gauntlet. Then he went in and made one for himself. He didn't like it. Too bulky. He could have made something much better if he'd had the parts.

* * *

Later than evening Ron sat back on the grass. He watched as Shego appeared from the hovercraft. "Shego." He greeted her with a smile.

"Buffoon." She sat down beside him.

"Get Drakken settled in a new lair?"

"Yeah. Hit a few places and got him some parts. He's busy working on some new idea. I will give him this, no matter how many times he fails he never gives up."

"I've noticed that." Ron admitted. It was one of Drakken's traits that he admired. Too bad the guy was a villain.

Shego ran her hand through the Buffoon's hair. She wondered if tonight would be the night. She stared up at the starry sky.

Ron showed her the gauntlet. She could tell he wasn't pleased with it. She gave it a try. She liked it. She already had super strength and knew how to throw a punch. With this she could have punched through the door of a bank vault. Not something the Buffoon would agree with.

She sighed and gave it back. "If you're wearing that along with the wristlet then please don't set it to ten okay. At least not when you're fighting me."

"I would never try to hurt you Shego." He leaned towards her and soon they were busy kissing.

Something rose in her. A need. She looked at the Buffoon. She could tell he wasn't ready yet. She suppressed the need. Tonight wouldn't be the night. But still, this was heaven. There would always be another night, another time. Soon.

* * *

End of Chapter.

Review Questions:

- Mark is practicing with Kim. I'm sure his skills are improving. However since he isn't the focus of the story that won't be show in detail.

- Motor Ed only saw Ron in disguise so he doesn't know it was Ron.

- The Wegos only know that Ron and Shego worked together to save Team Go. Not about their relationship. I'm sure they will be bothering their sister a lot though.

- Ron and Shego accept that they are in a relationship


	14. Chapter 14

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

_Reminder:_

_Middleton's Research and Development Campus - the place Ron broke into in chapter two where Shego spotted him._

* * *

_**Shego in Jail, First Love, or a Faulty Sprinkler System**_

Shego sat in her cell. Two days ago she'd made a visit to Jack Hench to purchase a few goods for Drakken. It was her misfortune that Global Justice had decided to do an investigation of the businessman at the same time. Given the nature of his business they usually brought along quite a bit of firepower. Not that his business wasn't legal. It was. But in the minds of Global Justice it was better safe than sorry. Global Justice had spotted her and given chase. They had ordered Jack Hench to do the same. Being legal, he had had no choice. Global Justice she could have handled but some of Jack Hench's machinery was tricky. They'd caught her.

It was no big deal. She would be out pretty soon. Still, she would rather be with the Buffoon than here. Not that being here was so bad. The bed was comfortable. The food was okay. It was nice and quiet. Rather relaxing. Unlike a lot of prisons being in a Global Justice prison wasn't hell. Since she was considered so dangerous, as were many of the inmates here, she even had the cell to herself. She stretch out on her bed and yawned. Usually she would wait a week or so before breaking out. That was the length of time before the cell got boring. Now she had other more urgent reasons to break out. To see the Buffoon. She would break out today.

She recalled the last month. The Buffoon's eighteenth birthday had come and he had spent most of the day at Princess'. She understood that. Princess might be her arch-foe but she was still the Buffoon's best friend. And the ones he called Mr. and Mrs. Dr. P were almost like parents to him. Certainly more so than his own who where almost never around. That had been the day though. That night they had made the jump from just boyfriend/girlfriend to actual lovers.

She stretched some more and smiled. It had been incredible. She'd had sex before. She'd played around a bit when she was a thief. She'd also tried it a few times when she'd been given vacation time by Drakken. There was no comparison. She knew why. With those other guys she'd just been satisfying a need. With the Buffoon it had been so much more. He cared about her. She cared about him. It made a difference. With him her pleasure came first. For her his pleasure came first. Her smile brightened as she recall just how good it had been. Good didn't describe it. It had been perfect.

Idly she wondered if it had been turning eighteen that marked the moment for him being ready. She doubted it. He was no prude. Each evening for two weeks she'd taken her hovercraft to his house and spent the night. Each night they'd made love, each morning they'd made love again. She sighed contentedly, recalling how perfect it had been. Then she had messed up and been caught by Global Justice.

She got up and paced her cell. She studied it carefully. There were half a dozen ways she could break out. For one thing they didn't know the full extent of her powers. She was careful to keep that hidden. She doubted Hego would have told them. As for that event with Princess, she figured Princess had been in too much shock to give a full report. As leader it was her who would have given it.

She looked at the bracelets she wore. Dampeners that eliminated the ability to use plasma. Basically they gave off electro-magnetic waves that interfered with those her body gave off. But they only had enough reach to affect her hands. She could still ignite the rest of her body. She had never done so though in view of any cameras Global Justice had access too. She could still use plasma but unless she found a way to use it with her hands she risked giving that secret away.

"Breakfast." Came a voice from the cell entrance.

Shego looked. The entrance to the cell was a force field. With her various visits here they'd tried different things. A concrete wall with a titanium door, an electrified mesh wire embedded in a force field,... A number of things. Beyond the force field was the girl who had brought Shego her last few meals.

"Morning." Shego replied.

"Morning." The girl answered back. Looking nervous.

Shego recalled using her sharp tongue on the girl the first time she delivered a meal. It had looked like the girl was about to cry. To her surprise Shego had regretted the action. Global Justice employees were supposed to have a thicker skin than that. She had found herself, for some reason she couldn't fathom, pointing out to the girl that she, Shego, was a villain and that the girl shouldn't take her insults seriously. She wasn't sure where that moment of sympathy had come from. It really wasn't her.

"Coffee this morning?" Shego asked.

The girl nodded. Shego, she'd learned, always liked coffee with her meals.

"Thanks." Shego smiled at the girl who she'd learned wasn't a Global Justice employee. Just a normal kitchen worker. It seemed WEE (Worldwide Evil Empire) was putting the pressure on Global Justice. The trained employees who usually served the meals were busy elsewhere. The kitchen workers had been recruited to fill that role until things settled down.

The girl rushed off.

Shego sat down to her breakfast. It was, she noted, covered in aluminum foil. She carefully peeled it off, taking care not to rip it. Then, her back to the camera she knew was watching, she proceeded to eat. The food was good. Not as good as the Buffoon's but good. She took her time savoring it. The coffee was good too. She'd asked the girl if they had any raspberry flavored coffee and the girl had surprised her with bringing her a cup of it with her next meal. It seemed being nice sometimes paid off.

She took the aluminum foil and carefully, with her back still to the camera, tore it into strips. She wrapped them around the bracelets. She had enough for three layers on each bracelets. Each layer reduced the power from the bracelets by approximately sixty-three percent. Three layers meant only five percent of the original energy got through. She had the ability to use plasma with her hands back. She just had to be careful not to vaporize the aluminum around the bracelets.

She raised her hands over her head and stretched. The bracelets were the same color of the aluminum. Doing this would make any observer think the bracelets were still on and untampered with.

She stood up and vaporized the tray the meal had come on. It would prevent anyone from seeing that just the aluminum had been taken. She heard alarms going off. Briefly she wondered how many guards there would be with the WEE situation going on.

She turned her plasma on the ceiling light fixtures. They were plasma resistance, but there was a limit to what could be done with something so fragile. They gave way in seconds. She jumped up and grabbed hold of the hole she'd made in the ceiling. Putting a hand in she threw in all the plasma she could without melting the aluminum. Since she'd pushed the bracelets as high on her arm as she could it wasn't too much of a drawback.

The force field went down as her plasma fried the wiring. The same wiring as provided the lighting for the cell. Briefly she wondered just how idiotic the people who ran the prison were. But then, she knew, the more complex things were the harder they were to make foolproof.

She was out the door running. Getting out of the cell was just the first step.

* * *

Ron recalled the last month. Heaven didn't begin to describe it. He'd known something like that had been approaching. That final step. He'd been terrified. He'd done what he usually did when he didn't know something. He'd read recipes. In this case that had been book after book on love making. He'd still been terrified. Still, that night had arrived and it had been perfect. Divinely so. And so had the night after it, and the night after that one, ... For two whole weeks.

Still, that wasn't the best part of having Shego spending the nights with him. That was good, but what was indescribable was the way he felt waking up with her in his arms. Watching her. The way he felt then. That was indescribable. The way emotions intense beyond belief coursed through his whole being. The way the whole world was changed. It was indescribable. Nor did he care to try and describe it. He was satisfied that such moments did exist, could exist.

"Earth to Ron, earth to Ron."

He brought his thoughts back to where he was. The school cafeteria.

'"Just what where you thinking about?" Kim asked. "You were really out of it."

Ron shrugged. If he told her the truth the resulting explosion might destroy the whole school.

"Come on Ron. You've been really distracted the last few weeks. What is it?"

"It's not something I care to talk about KP."

"But if something's wrong I can try to help." She offered.

Ron tried to figure out what to tell her to get her to drop the subject.

"Kim, give the guy some space." Mark suggested.

"But..."

"Kim, it's his business."

"But..."

Mark leaned close to her and whispered. "Kim, if there are some things he doesn't want to tell you then leave it alone. There are things between us we don't tell anyone about."

Ron could barely him. Tai Shing Pek Kwar had improved his hearing by a little bit. Not much, but enough.

"That's different." Kim whispered back.

"How so?" Mark asked her, his voice still in a whisper.

"It just is." Kim answered.

"So if he's dating he's got to answer to you?" Mark asked.

Kim's eyes went wide. "Dating? Ron?"

"Well I would say it's gone past the dating stage." Mark replied.

"What do you mea..." Her eyes went wider. "You mean?"

"Yeah. I mean that." Mark answered.

"But who?"

"That's his business Kim. Not yours, not mine. I don't know. Maybe he insecure over all the rejection he's gotten from girls in the past and wants to keep it a secret. Or maybe it's someone he knows you won't like and doesn't want to cause a conflict."

"But I wouldn't."

"Oh? What if it was someone like Bonnie?" Mark asked her.

"Bonnie? He would never."

"That was just an example Kim. I don't know who any more than you do."

"Oh."

Ron noticed her looking over at him. He could tell she was hoping he hadn't overheard their little conversations. "How's the gauntlet working?" He asked.

"It's awesome." Mark replied. "It allows me to hit a lot faster because I can set it to double the impact from my punches. That means I don't have to focus on each attack so much."

"I've noticed that." Ron answered. "He'd seen Mark taking down henchmen and synthodrones a lot faster that he normally did."

"Too bad one wouldn't work in conjunction with my suit." Kim sighed.

"You're already strong enough." Ron told her.

"Yeah but if I could hit Shego with a glove like that along with my suit it would really hurt." She had a dreamy expression on her face.

"You wouldn't want to kill her Kim. You're strong. The suit makes you stronger. Multiplying that by ten would kill her."

"No. But I could set it to double."

"True." Ron admitted.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Kim flipped the Kimmunicator open and switched it on. "What's the sitch?" She asked.

"Shego broke out early this morning." The super genius informed her.

"What?" Kim cried out. "But they usually manage to hold her for a week or two. It's been just two days."

"Guess with all the pressure WEE has been putting on them Global Justice was a bit lax with their prison security."

Kim sighed.

"They're asking if you noticed anything strange about her lately?"

"Strange? She's green." Kim replied.

"Anything different about her?" Wade asked again.

"Not that I can tell. We fight. Self-destruct gets set. We all flee. There was one time she had more plasma than normal. But that was just once a while back. Probably had her powers boosted by one of Drakken's machine. I'm pretty sure if she could do that all the time she would."

"More plasma than usual, most likely a temporary incident from one of Drakken's machine." Wade repeated. "Okay. I will report that to Global Justice."

Ron listened. His heart soared at the thought of Shego being free.

"A second Kim." Wade disappeared from the screen. He came back a second later. "We've got a reported sighting on Shego if you're interested."

"Where is it Wade?" Kim was definitenly interested.

"Middleton's Research and Development Campus." Wade informed them.

"I guess my car is the ride them. Okay, thanks Wade." Kim turned the machine off and took off running.

* * *

Ron looked at the guard booth and the security camera. He recalled all the trouble he had had by passing the security here when he'd broken in. He also recalled it was the second time he'd spent with Shego having a real talk. The first time they'd gone to Bueno Nacho together. The first time he'd been in her hovercraft as anything other than a prisoner. The place was bringing back memories. He smiled.

"Why the smile Ron?" Kim asked him.

"Oh. Just recalling the past. Fun times and all that."

"Well Shego is here so be careful." She warned him.

"Will do, KP."

They spotted her coming out from a room. A device was under her arm."

"What you stealing this time Shego?" Ron asked.

She froze. :"Damn that nerdling is fast. I had hoped to get in and out before anyone arrived."

"Tough luck." Kim called out. She was down in a fighting stance.

"Hey Princess. Well, I don't mind taking the time to wipe the floor with you and your boy toy." She put the device to one side and lit her fists.

Ron watched the plasma. This could get interesting.

Shego charged Kim, taking her by surprise. She managed to get a hold of Kim's ankle as she tried to leap out of the way. Kim was slammed to the ground. Shego kept hold of the ankle, even as she got kicked, and lit her other fist. She tossed two plasma balls at the twisting redhead, both direct hits. It was enough to penetrate her suit and knock her out.

Mark charged her while she was doing this. He got in a hit while she was busy with Kim. It knocked her off her feet.

Mark gulped as she got up. That hit would have knocked an elephant out.

Shego lit her fists. "So boy toy, ready for some pain..." She never finished the question.

Ron had charged at the same time as Mark, but had halted his charged after seeing Mark's hit land. Seeing Shego get up he had twisted around and punched. He got in the rare hit on her and the wristlet worked to perfection. His gauntlet was turned off. His didn't want to hurt her.

Shego felt herself fly across the room again. She landed and flipped to her feet. Just in time to met Mark's second charge head on. She knocked his hand to one side and dropped him with a blast of plasma.

"Nice hit." Shego congratulated Ron. "Gauntlet wasn't turned on though."

Ron shrugged. "You're tough but when using stuff like that in combination it's hard to tell just how much force to use. Didn't want to hurt you."

They stared at each other. Neither of them wanted to fight. Both of their jobs demanded it. There was no self-destruct here for Ron to push to bring the fighting to an end. Ron sighed and Shego sighed along with him. They both hated this. .

"Well, that was your lucky shot." She finally commented. The game had to be played out.

"What is that item anyway?" Ron asked.

"Something called an Electro-Nullifier."

Ron sighed again. "I hate to think what Drakken would use something like that for."

"For something evil I'm sure." Shego tossed two balls of plasma at the Buffoon. One he dodge, the other vanished as his wristlet generated a counter frequency and nullified it. She tossed two more with the same result.

They circled each other again. Both knew they had to fight. There were cameras and questions would be asked if they didn't. Shego kept tossing plasma and Ron either dodged or countered with the wristlet.

Shego watched him closely. He was calm. But then he knew she wouldn't hurt him, just as she knew he wouldn't hurt her. Still he was too calm. He was up to something. He backed away from her attacks and she followed. The cold water hit her with enough force to send her flying. Instantly she knew what the trap had been. That faulty sprinkler system. They hadn't fixed it. The water was freezing and it was in her eyes. She flipped to her feet and jumped. As she landed she felt something tighten around her.

She blinked the water out of her eyes and looked down. There was a rope circling her, pinning her arms to her sides. She looked up.

Ron shrugged. Something Wade came up with. Super strong rope that's plasma proof. Just loop it around something and it draws tight. I doubt even you can break it.

Shego tried. She couldn't.

"Made of carbon nanotubes. A string a single millimeter in diameter can hold a weight of over six thousand kilograms." He informed her.

Shego looked. The cord around her was at least four millimeters in diameter. _Twenty-four tons, _she calculated. That was the pressure she would need to put on it to break it. Even she couldn't do that. Hego could, but not her. And it was too tight to just slide off.

She sighed. _That's what I get from sparring with him so much, _she thought. He had calculated things so that when the water hit her she would fall. Had watched and then predicted where she would jump too. The Buffoon she had once thought a Buffoon could beat her. At least some times. She felt a sense of pride.

She made a run for the door and the Buffoon tried to block her. She dodged left but got tripped. She kept her forward momentum and rolled. Coming to her feet, she ran.

Ron didn't give chase. He knew Shego even tied like that was faster. And he didn't care to anyway. He hadn't seen her for two days and they had ended up having to fight.

Both Kim and Mark came too a few minutes later. They walked out to the car together.

"You know." Kim commented. "I could swear Shego is getting a lot better."

Ron considered that. She had put in a lot of hours sparring with him. It would have had some affect. "I think you're right KP."

"Good job on stopping her." Kim congratulated him and then added. "Wonder if Wade has any more of that rope. It comes in handy."

"Yeah. Without it she would have wiped the floor with me." He admitted. He could tell she was angry over the loss of the rope but didn't blame him for it.

"I've decided." Kim suddenly spoke again.

"Decided what?" Ron and Mark asked her.

"After graduation no more missions."

"Oh?" Ron asked. He was glad. Good as Kim was they were dangerous.

"Yeah. Thanks to WEE's attacks Global Justice is increasing its manpower. In a few more months they will have enough resources to handle any villain that comes along."

Ron looked at her. He could tell the decision was made and she was happy with it. He was too. He looked over at Mark. He had a smile on his face. Ron knew he hadn't liked seeing Kim put herself in danger time and time again. Neither of them had.

* * *

They both led back on the grass, staring up at the sky. The stars were out again.

"How was prison food?" Ron asked.

"Not too bad. Still not as good as yours." She had eaten three platefuls of it when she'd arrived.

"Thanks." Ron was always happy to have his cooking skills praised.

"Nice trick back there." Shego admitted. "How did you know they hadn't fixed the sprinkler system?"

"Through the newspapers. They just thought it was student's project going out of control and didn't investigate."

"Pretty good maneuvering also. Water hit me in the face pretty hard."

"Yeah. That's the system they got. It just pumps in some water fast. So it has quite a bit of force. Then it stops while the system determines if more is needed. It keeps the water damage to a minimum while putting out the fire quick. Your plasma directly under the sensor was enough to set it off."

Shego nodded. She had already figured that out.

"Your plasma does different things." Ron commented. "Sometimes it blasts stuff, other times it burns, or it knocks people out."

"Yeah. Depends on what I want. I can control the type of plasma a little."

"Neat." It was something he had noticed a few times but had never mentioned.

"You know a villain can't go back from being a villain." Shego said. "At least Global Justice doesn't ever take them off the wanted list."

"I know." Ron answered.

"I'm going to be caught even if I give it up."

"I know."

"They will find out about us."

"I know."

"You will be in trouble."

"I know that Shego."

He looked at their hands, fingers linked together. It was the first night they made love under the stars.

* * *

End of Chapter.

The opening I think shows how drastically Shego has changed. Some of her demons are purged and she has something in her life to look forward too. It also shows her using her wits to escape a situation. A change of pace from having Ron come up with something.

No, Mark doesn't know it's Shego. He's just guessing from the expression on Ron's face that he's gone that far in a relationship with someone.

No, I have no plans for Hanna to appear.


	15. Chapter 15

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

_Timeline:_

_Chapters 1-4 happens in around a month. Chapters 5-15 happens with a month or more between them (it's been over a year since chapter 1). The following chapters will be happening closer together with little time between events._

* * *

_**True Love's Sacrifice**_

Ron woke up as he usually did, five minutes before Shego, with her curled up against him. Each morning it was as indescribable as it was the morning before. A moment when he just watched her and let the emotions course through his very soul. He didn't try to understand them. Some things were not meant to be understood. He just lived in the few moments of perfect bliss and accepted them.

Shego woke too as she usually did. Feeling safe and warm. The Buffoon watching her. She stretched and enjoyed the way his eyes widen, appreciating the show. "Morning Buffoon." She smiled at him. The smile reached her eyes and her whole face lit up. She reach out and ran her hand through his hair. She pulled him close.

"Morning Shego." The Buffoon responded, his own hands reaching out. The smile she greeted him with each morning made her irresistable..

After the morning love making she showered with him. His hands washing her back, and other parts, made showering pure bliss. Of course it also meant it now took a lot longer.

Sitting down for breakfast she found the Buffoon looking at her in a strange way. "What is it?" She asked.

"If there was a way for you to give up being a villain, would you?"

She stared back. Once a villain, always a villain. She knew this. Why didn't the Buffoon?

"Forget about it being impossible. I'm asking would you? What do you want to do?"

Shego thought. "I certainly don't want to be a hero." She replied. "As for being a villain. It was fun for a while. I could do anything. And I wanted to trash the Team Go name. But now it's just a role I'm stuck in. A few jollies from fighting once in a while, but not what I want to be."

"So you would give it up?" The Buffoon was persistent.

"Yeah. I would give it up. What I would do I'm not sure but I would give it up." She could see he was satisfied with the answer.

"It's probably not impossible." He informed her.

"Ron." She interrupted. Using his name when she was serious.

"Shego. Don't worry. I know how difficult it will be. But difficult doesn't mean impossible, I have a few ideas. I won't do anything without talking it over with you first okay? Trust me?" He smiled at her.

She gave in. His smile did that too her. "No rash actions without talking it over with me first okay?" She insisted.

"I promise Shego."

They ate. As usual the meal was delicious. They parted after a long good-bye kiss. She for the lair, he for school.

* * *

Shego sat back in the hovercraft, letting the autopilot do all the work. She wondered what the Buffoon's plan was. Not that it would work. Global Justice had never removed a villain from their wanted list. Not even when the villain died. They kept the name on their list just in case the death had been faked, so people would still be on the look out. Even when they died in Global Justice custody and they had the corpse the name wasn't removed.

She had thought about running. Just not going back to him. She knew he would respect her decision. He wouldn't try to follow her. But she had learned to respect him too. To respect his decisions. He wasn't just a kid. He'd faced villains and monsters during his missions with Princess. He knew the score. So she would stay and they would try to work through it together. She hoped it was the right decision.

And perhaps he was right. She thought it was impossible but the Buffoon often tore to shreds what she believed was impossible. Take for example Drakken's killer army of synthodrones, taken down with thumbtacks. She hadn't seen that one coming. For that matter she hadn't seen love coming her way. She'd thought that impossible too. She would trust him.

* * *

Ron walked to school beside Mark and Kim. He had a bad feeling. He pushed it to one side. Whatever it was it he couldn't do anything about it. It was just a bad feeling with no information to go on. He hoped it wasn't about Shego.

He turned his thoughts to her villain dilemma. There he thought the situation wasn't as bad as she believed it to be. For one thing Shego had been a villain for a long time. She thought in terms of what she could steal. Other methods never occurred to her. Take for example the eleven countries she was wanted in. They were not that large of a problem. When it came to their self-interest countries were willing to negotiate.

He considered Japan. To supply its energy needs it had spent considerable money developing methods to extract uranium from seawater. A device that let it do that for just a few yen a kilogram would be worth a lot. For it they would be willing to negotiate. Even to the point of dropping Shego from their wanted list.

The same went for France. Over seventy-five percent of their energy came from nuclear powerplants. They were the largest exporters of electricity in the European Union. They would negotiate for the same device as Japan would. They too would be willing to drop Shego from their wanted list.

He was pretty sure there was something the other nine countries would want. He would just have to look at those countries and determine what it was and if he could make it. There would be something.

That left the matter of Global Justice. Sure Global Justice never removed a villain from their wanted list. But, on the other hand, there were villains they hardly ever went after. Take the Seniors for example. Unless it was to stop a plot they never went after them. The Seniors came and went as they pleased without worry. The reason was simple. They were worth in excess of ten billion dollars. The economic empire they controlled was worth hundreds of billions. Touching them would cause too much economic disruption. Unless they were a direct threat, they were ignored.

Of course he didn't have ten billion dollars and didn't control an economic empire worth hundreds of billions. However it did show that Global Justice could be persuaded to be reasonable. It just came down to thinking of a method that would persuade them. That, he knew, would require quite a bit of thinking. He did have a few ideas. Just nothing that was workable yet.

"Ron." Kim's voice brought him back to where he was.

He looked around. They were at the school entrance. He had been lost in his thoughts during the whole walk.

"Anything wrong?" She asked.

"Just a bad feeling something bad is about to happen."

"Anything in particular?

"No. Just this horrible feeling. Nothing I can pin down." He shuddered.

* * *

Shego walked into the lair. She stopped and stared. There was a nine-foot tall green woman there beside Drakken along with a number of advanced looking devices all around the place. She was sure they hadn't been there when she left yesterday. She had a bad feeling about this.

"What's up Dr. D?" She greeted her boss.

"Morning Shego. This is Warmonga." He went back to examining the strange devices.

"Ummm. Where she come from?"

"I am from the planet Lorwardia. I have come to this world to serve the Great Blue." The nine-foot tall green woman spoke.

"Great Blue?" Shego was baffled.

"She recognizes my greatness Shego. Look at all the devices of destruction she brought with her." Drakken pointed around the room. He was excited.

"Your greatness?" Shego was skeptical.

"Yes Shego. My greatness. She doesn't mock me like you do."

"Okay, okay, Dr. D." Shego shrugged. At least Dr. D would have someone around to keep him safe if she left.

"You serve the great Blue too?" The new woman asked Shego.

"I guess you could say that." Shego admitted.

"Shego. Look at all the devices." He pointed at one. "This is a ..."

"Neutron Imploder oh Great Blue. It will cause a thermonuclear reaction in any matter it hits." Warmonga spoke.

"What a great doomsday machine it will make." He turned and pointed at another. "This is a ..."

"Black Hole Replicator oh Great Blue. It will replicate the effects of a black hole's great gravimetic disruption within a ten kilometer radius of the beam." Warmonga explained.

"Shego was pretty sure she'd explained before and Dr. D had just forgotten."

"Another perfect doomsday device Shego. They all are." Drakken practically danced around the room in excitement pointing at the machines.

"With you and Warmonga to guard the lair from Kim Possible and with these devices I will be unbeatable. The world is finally ours Shego."

"Are you really sure you want to use these Dr. D? I mean you don't even understand how they work."

"Of course I do Shego. Why wouldn't I? Nothing can stand against me now." He was beyond reason.

Shego sighed.

"You do not approve of the Great Blue's decision?" Warmonga asked her. She had noticed the sigh.

"Not really. His plans always has a way of going wrong."

Warmonga frowned. This woman did not respect the Great Blue as she should.

"Just what do you mean by the Great Blue anyway." Shego was curious. "What is he supposed to do?"

"He is the one that will lead the Lorwardian race across the galaxy. All shall fall before us and kneel before the Great Blue."

Shego laughed. "He can't even open a jar of pickles for crying out loud. How is he supposed to rule a galaxy?"

"Shego. What did we say about words hurting?" Drakken demanded.

"Shall I take care of her for you oh Great Blue?" Warmonga asked.

"Yes. Do that." Drakken answered without thinking.

Warmonga attacked and Shego found herself flying across the room. The woman, she realized, had a pretty good punch. Shego hit the wall but staggered back to her feet. She lit her fists and tossed some plasma at Warmonga.

Warmonga dodged the plasma with ease. She moved in with blinding speed, delivered another punch, and rapidly backed off. Shego flew through the air and hit the wall again.

Shego got to her feet slower this time. She looked at Warmonga. The woman, she realized, was playing with her. Shego lit her fists again and threw multiple bursts of plasma at the nine-foot woman. Somehow the woman dodge it. How someone that size could be so agile was beyond Shego. Something should have hit.

Warmonga moved in again and hit Shego. Shego hit the wall again. Again she got to her feet.

Shego held off on the plasma this time. It wasn't working. She watched the giant in front of her. From the expression on her face Shego knew this woman liked killing. Not just fighting. She liked killing. Shego had seen such people before. Even as a villain she'd avoided them. She wondered if Drakken knew that 'take care of' in Warmonga's vocabulary meant kill. She doubted it.

Shego waited, watching the giant. Something told her Warmonga was about to strike and she lit her hands, throwing out plasma. She felt herself go flying through the air. She hit the wall again and barely struggled to her feet. No one had ever hit her that hard before. Warmonga was back to standing just several feet away. She was unharmed. Shego had been sure she'd hit her with at least some plasma this time. Yet there wasn't a single burn.

Warmonga smirked. She moved in and struck again.

Shego remained on the floor. From the way her ribs felt she knew some were broken. She was bleeding in numerous places and was sure she had some internal bleeding. She was going to die here. She eyed the self-destruct. It was her only way out. She stood up, preparing to summon all the plasma she could, to go all out. She didn't have time.

Warmonga moved in again. This time with a kick that actually sent Shego through a wall of solid stone..

Shego gasped for breath. More ribs had been broken. Her head was one massive ball of pain. She struggled to her feet. She knew the Buffoon would be here when Drakken implemented his next plan. That he would have to face that beast. She had to ...

Warmonga moved in with another kick. Shego was sent flying again.

Collapsed lung, Shego realized as she tried to breathe. Not that the pain mattered much. She was used to it. But she couldn't move like she needed to if her body didn't have enough oxygen. She needed to hit that damn button. She stood up. She went flying again as Warmonga kicked her again.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!"

She distantly heard Drakken shouting. Seems he had finally figured out what 'take care of' meant. Shego blacked out. When she came to she was hung on the wall with chains. She looked at them, ignoring the pain as she moved her head. They were, she was pretty sure, plasma proof. She could also feel an electro-magnetic field that would in any event disrupted her ability to use plasma. She took stock of her injuries. Nothing that wouldn't heal in a few day if she was given the time. However she doubted she would have that time.

"Do not speak of the Great Blue with disrespect again."

Shego looked. It was Warmonga speaking to her. She didn't have a mark on her.

* * *

"You're not eating your lunch Ron?" Kim asked. She looked at her best friend worriedly. Ron always ate no matter what.

"I don't feel like eating now KP."

"What's wrong?"

"Still got that bad feeling, it's getting worse."

"You want to go see the school nurse?"

"I don't feel sick. I just got a bad feeling KP. Something's wrong."

Kim stared at her best friend. She opened the Kimmunicator and called Wade.

"What's up Kim." The super genius who was always online, day and night, appeared.

"Is anything going on?" Kim asked.

"Nothing too unusual. Some sunspot activity is the biggest news at the moment."

"Oh. Keep an eye out okay."

"Will do." The super genius signed off.

Kim looked at Ron. Sure it was silly to think that bad feeling of his meant anything but ... She shrugged. Something felt off to her too. Something was wrong.

A few seconds later the Kimmunicator went, Beep Beep Beep.

Kim flipped it open with nervous hands. "What's the sitch Wade?" She asked.

"I just rechecked some data Kim. There's something strange about those sunspots. They're interacting with something just thirty kilometers east of your location. I tried to do a scan but the interference is pretty bad. All I could see is what might be a lair. With the image so distorted it's hard to be sure though."

"We will go and check it out." Kim told him.

"Be careful Kim." The super genius signed off.

"We're going to have to start riding to school." Kim commented. The car was still at her house.

"Yeah." Ron replied. He wasn't positive but he was pretty sure that was the direction Shego had been flying off in lately. He felt ill.

* * *

Things went as they normally did. They arrived at the lair and found an entrance through the vents. They arrive in the main lab a few minutes later.

"Kim Possible! This time you've met your match!" Drakken ranted from a corner of the room.

Ron ignored him and looked around. He froze as he saw Shego. She was hanging on a wall in chains and looked pretty badly beaten. He stared at her, fear taking hold of him. It released its grip as she looked back at him and smiled weakly. She was still alive. She would heal. All he needed to do was get her out of here. He watched as her eyes shifted direction and then back to him.

He turned to look. There was a nine-foot tall woman standing in the corner beside Drakken. He looked back to Shego. He could read her look. Danger. The woman was dangerous. Ron reached down and turned the capacitor to his wristlet on. Then he set the power on his gauntlet to ten. Anything that could hurt Shego like that was dangerous. And anything that hurt Shego like that was something he wanted to hurt.

He turned to look at Kim and Mark. They had, he noted, already seen the woman. It was only his concern for Shego that had stopped him from seeing the strange woman as soon as he entered the lair. Ron poke Mark and then pointed to his gauntlet. He mouthed the word, ten.

He then looked around some more. The room was full of strange machines. His innate sense of how technology worked told him the basics of each. It also told him it wasn't human minds that had designed them. They were somehow strange. It was like knowing English and then trying to read a different dialect. He could read it, but it wasn't the dialect he was used to. Alien, was the word that came to mind. He shuddered. There was something malevolent about those machines.

"What are you up to this time Drakken?" Kim asked. The huge woman made her nervous.

"Taking over my world Kim Possible. There is nothing that can stop me this time." Drakken was sure of himself.

"Who's she?" Kim nodded at Warmonga.

"Warmonga, my new assistant. She's the one you will be fighting today. Unless you want to surrender now?" Drakken felt like being generous.

"I don't think so." Kim answered. She settled into a fighting stance. This, she knew, wasn't going to be easy.

Warmonga looked at Kim. She smiled. Kim shuddered.

Kim barely had time to dodge back as the giant charged her. Even so she felt the giant's fingers graze her. She whirled around, trying to get back into a fighting stance. A blow hit her that sent her across the room. Without the suit she would have been seriously hurt.

Ron watched. He took note of Kim dodging and Warmonga twisting around to follow the dodge, off balance. That was when he moved. He put everything he had into the punch. His system was flooded with strength and speed boosts. The capacitors to the wristlet was on. The gauntlet was set to ten. As the blow struck he felt the wristlet blaze with heat. In the split second it took he knew what was happening, the wristlet was encountering technology that was trying to counter it. Then the capacitors fired and the blow hit. He felt bones break beneath the impact of the gauntlet. The giant went flying. A surprised look on her face. She hit a wall and went through.

Shego watched Warmonga go flying. She knew the fight wasn't over. She pulled on the chains holding her. She felt the bones in her hand break as she forced them through the cuffs chained to the wall. Blood squirted out from under her fingernails under the pressure, coating the wall behind her. She felt one hand come free. Then the second. Half the bones in her hands were broken, but she didn't need them to use plasma. She went to light up. Again too late.

Warmonga appeared from the shattered wall. She flicked her hand and a spear appeared. She moved.

Ron didn't even see her coming. One second she was on the other side of the room, the next she was before him. The spear had been thrust into his heart. As the snarling giantess ripped the spear from his heart he felt the massive damage the barbed ends of it did. She thrust the spear again, then again. Three times in all. He fell to the ground, the world going dark around him. Three mortal wounds in his body.

Kim froze. The world around her was spinning. This couldn't be happening. She screamed out his name, "Ron." She moved towards him and fell to his side. He was dead. No one could have survived those wounds. She screamed his name again.

Shego watched her world disappear. She stumbled towards him. The pain of her battered body didn't even register. The pain as her shattered hands hit the floor beside him didn't register. All she knew was that her world had ended. She called his name, her collapsed left lung, distorting it. She reached for him. He was so still.

Kim looked up. She saw Shego kneeling there. _Why_, she distantly wondered, _does Shego care what happens to Ron._ She moved to protect him. To keep Shego from him. And Shego backed off.

"Take him Princess and go." The voice was the voice of death.

"But..." Kim looked up and her voice froze. Plasma was flowing down Shego's face. A face that was filled with torment. A face that spoke of an end to hope. And end to everything. Shego, she knew, planned to die here. To avenge Ron.

"Take him and go." Shego had never felt such rage. Such despair. Hope given and then taken away. She didn't care any more. She would die in this place and take that bitch with her.

Kim watched as plasma rose from Shego's hands, from her feet. From her head. Spreading across her body. She felt the heat of it burn her even through her suit. She grabbed Ron and fled, Mark with her.

Shego rose and turned to face Warmonga. The bitch had stood back to watch the grief she'd caused. She'd enjoyed it, the suffering. Shego felt the fire rise in her as never before. She had always tried to control it before. To keep from burning. But now she didn't care if she burned. She saw Warmonga still gloating, even the power of a comet didn't scare her. Shego would teach her otherwise.

Warmonga moved and Shego felt the punch come through the plasma that encased her body. She went flying. But the blow wasn't as hard as the ones the giantess had hit her with before. She wondered why. And how could the bitch hit through the plasma. She stood up, her flesh burning. To win here she had to think like the Buffoon.

Warmonga moved again and Shego went flying once more. She stood up, took control off the plasma and sent it in gentle waves downward. The metal floor at her feet melted. She backed away.

Warmonga moved again and then froze. There was a startled expression on her face. Her feet were encase in metal, having sunk into the melted metal off the floor which had then solidified.

Shego stared at the monster before her. She knew the metal would not hold someone that strong for more than a split second. She felt the plasma rise around her and sent it at the monster. To her surprise a force field rose to surround Warmonga. A force field that held the plasma at bay. Shego screamed and felt her flesh burn more as she let the plasma burn out of control, trying to force it through the shield. It turned colors and Shego knew it was close to going down. But she was at her limit. She had nothing left.

She kept her focus on the woman but took the time to send one small blast into the lair speakers above her. She backed back until she was to a console. Then she hit the red button. No warning blasted out through the lab. The speakers were gone. But she knew she had only seconds to live.

She notice Drakken looking at her. Startled. Scared.

"Run" She told him and he ran.

She turned her focus back to the monster. She felt the last of her energy drain out. She tried to call on more plasma. To lower the force field enough to ensure the lair's destruction got through it. Somewhere she found the strength to throw just a little more.

Then the world around her vanished.

* * *

Shego felt pain. She had never felt anything quite like it before. Sure she had burned before, but never quite like this. She had never had half the bones in her body broken when she'd burned before. Or the collapsed lung. Nor had her head been the throbbing ball of pain it was now. What puzzled her was why she felt pain at all. Was this what it was like being dead?

She opened her one eye that still worked. She saw the glowing blue form of Hego lying across her. He must have, she realized, rushed into the lair at the last second and tried to protect her. Since she was still alive he must have succeeded somewhat. She coughed blood.

"Don't move Amy." He spoke. I'm getting you to a hospital right away. You will be okay.

_Amy, _Shego wondered. _Not Shego? Why did he call me by my real name? He never did that._

A distance away a green arm poked up through the rubble. Warmonga crawled forth. Her body was obviously nearly shattered too. From a glance Shego could tell she had numerous broken bones and blood was flowing from a number of wounds.

Shego tried to stand up. To fight her again.

Hego pushed her down. Then he started grabbing the largest pieces of the shattered lair he could find. He threw them at the now standing giantess.

They hit and the giantess went down again. She tried to stand but Hego kept up the barrage of broken cement and steel. She pressed a button on her belt. She vanished, pulled up into the air.

Shego fell unconscious.

* * *

Ron Stoppable stood in a blue glowing place. From this view point he observed the damage his body had taken. If he had been a master of Tai Shing Pek Kwar it would not have mattered. He would have been able to heal the damage with ease. For that matter if he had been a master of that art he would never have taken the damage in the first place.

He was not a master of Tai Shing Pek Kwar. He was at best a beginner. A novice. The skill he had would not allow him to heal the fatal damage he had taken. Still he tried. He focused on his heart but what he healed there was undone in the next feeble beat of that shattered organ. His repairs wouldn't take hold.

He focused on his body. Reducing his need for oxygen. Having died many tens of thousands of times in his sleep it seemed had allowed him some mastery of that skill. Still, even in the state of suspended animation he had placed his body, he needed oxygen. Just less of it.

He slowed the rate at which his damaged heart was trying to beat. Then he tried the repairs again. Again he failed. he was dying.

Sensei stood a short distance away, watching his pupil. "Look within and you will find a power that will help."

Ron looked up from where he was standing. "Look within?"

"If you have not the ability to see it then you have not the ability to use it. Look at what flows within your body."

Ron turned and looked. He stood in the center of his being, the focal point of Mind, Body, and Spirit. He did as Sensei had ordered. He looked. And he understood.

* * *

End of Chapter.

Yen - Japanese currency

Birth control? That might get mentioned later. As two intelligent people I assume Ron and Shego are responsible enough to use it if they need it.

No, Tai Shing Pek Kwar won't save Ron from this, but (as a spoiler) he won't die. Originally I had planned to leave this chapter at the lair explosion, but thought people might think I was killing them off. I'm not.


	16. Chapter 16

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

_**Comet Powers,... Common Enemy...**_

Ron turned and looked. He stood in the center of his being, the focal point of Mind, Body, and Spirit. He did as Sensei had ordered. He looked. And he understood. For a brief moment he even smiled. _Shego, _he thought as he saw the sturdy cells that flowed through his body. How many times had they made love? How many times had they made-out? Even each kiss had exchanged some of their bodily fluids. If he could channel it right then there was a source of power to heal his wounds - her comet powers. Still he would have to hurry, each moment even in this state of deep sleep consumed oxygen that he could not replace. And his body saw those cells as invaders. Tough as they were, they were still slowly dying. If he didn't do something they would be extinguished before he could use them. The chance was slim, nearly infinitesimal. Yet it did exist.

He wondered how Shego was doing. He hadn't got her out of that place. Instead he was on the edge of death himself. He had to make this work if only to save her. And if she were already dead, then to avenge her. He focused his thoughts. Anger would only consume his fading resources all the more quicker.

He studied the cells. He saw them. Knew their power. But how to make use of them. The power wasn't his. The comet power in each cell was foreign to him. He examined the cells in-depth. The body, to a master of Tai Shing Pek Kwar was a temple. Yet a temple was just a building. In a way a machine created to provide protection. The cells were a machine and with his innate knowledge of machines he studied them. He studied the flow of energies within the cell and came to a realization. The comet powers were an artificial construction. A construction designed on purpose to be compatible with Shego's body. The comet that had hit her and her brothers had not been natural. Someone had made it.

Briefly he wondered if it had been the aliens, the Lorwardians. But he thought not. He had seen their machines. They were malevolent. Designed to cause harm. The comet powers were designed to interact with the body. The construction wasn't human, but it was beautiful. The beings that had designed those powers had not been evil.

He studied the way the energies of the comet's power interacted with Shego's cells and knew what needed to be done. He needed to change the wavelength of those energies. At the moment those wavelengths made the energies compatible with Shego. He needed a wavelength that made the energies compatible with his own body. With no machines to use he wondered how he could do that.

And time was running out. He had slowed his body to a near death state. Still each cell was consuming the fading resources left to it. Mainly oxygen. Not only that but to think at a normal speed he was using his Mental and Spiritual energies. That too was fading. Soon it would fail and his brain would be reduced to thinking no faster than its slowed state could sustain. If that happened he would be dead in minutes.

He focused. He saw one of the cells die and nearly wept. It was a part of Shego that had died. For some reason that hurt, even with him knowing it had been just a single cell. He prayed that, hopefully, she was still alive and whole.

He controlled the flow of energies within his body and slowly he brought some of those cells to his heart. The task took a long time. Too long maybe. He studied the wavelengths and computed the wavelength he needed. He had nothing to work with but his own body. So he used the water within his body as a lens.

There were millions of her cells within his body, yet they faded as he tried again and again to convert their wavelengths to one compatible with his own body. Then as one of her cells died it gave up the infinitesimal remains of the comet power it had left. That power radiated out through the liquid lens he had surrounded it with. Briefly it touched on one of his cells and that cell changed, it absorbed the power. Within the power of the comet took hold.

He watched. Slowly the feeble power that the cell had absorbed grew. In the outside world he knew hours must have passed with him just watching that one cell. Finally it was full of power, The energy it contained radiated outward and touched the nearby cells. Including a few blood cells that had been near by. The flame in those cells slowly grew. Hours more passed. Then finally, they too started to radiate their comet powers to the nearby cells.

It was a race against time. The human body contained a hundred trillion cells. From one cell the comet powers would have to grow, touching each of those cells. It would take a long long time. Days would pass before the power was great enough to heal the damage. He slowed his rate of thinking to conserve energy. From here on he would just have to wait. There was nothing else he could do. He watched from his focal point, observing his body for one last time, before he let his consciousness fade. The oxygen was lasting longer than expected. It changed the balance. There would be enough time.

* * *

Kim sat in a chair watching the very still form of her best friend. She recalled how she had run from the lair. Had heard it explode just a minute later. She'd hoped that the creature that had killed Ron was dead. She wasn't sure why she had run though. She should have stayed and fought too. It was the least she could have done for him. To have stayed there and died along with him. Like Shego had planned to do. But Shego had ordered her, and for some reason Kim had obeyed.

She had, even knowing it was hopeless, pushed the car to its limits. The thirty kilometer drive had taken less than fifteen minutes. She had taken turns at speeds that should have left them all dead. Mark had been in the back, holding onto the bloody form that had once been her best friend.

She recalled the doctors taking a quick look at his body and noting the time. There had been no need to check to see if he was dead. His heart was a gaping wound. Both lungs had been pierced with that damn spear. Both were collapsed. That monster had obviously known some human anatomy to strike where she did.

She recalled her mother standing over him, weeping. She had taken her stethoscope and placed it against his chest, just above the wound to his heart. Kim guessed something in her mother was just unaccepting. She had had to make sure. Ron, Kim knew, was as much a son to her mother as she, Kim, was a daughter. She had watched her mother weep. Kim was still holding his cold hand. He was dead. She hadn't known what to do. For perhaps the first time in her life Kim had felt true hopelessness. True despair. For the first time in her life she knew there was something a Possible could not do.

Then something in her mother's face had flinched. Disbelieving, yet a flicker of hope. Then her mother had looked at the body again and that look had faded. Yet that look had come again. She could recall the disbelief on her mother's face. She had stood there, holding that stethoscope to his chest for more than fifteen minutes before Kim saw acceptance in her face. There was a heart beat. One very faint one every three minutes.

He had had one hope. A lung and heart transplant. He wouldn't get it. For one thing there was no time to find a suitable donor. And then there were the sunspots. The equipment needed to perform such a delicate surgery would be disrupted by them.

So for six days she had sat in this room, holding his hand. Mark brought her food. She had watched the heart monitor and the fantastically low heart beat it showed. She expected it to stop at any time. It should have. It didn't. It had lasted for six days. The bandages around his chest were red. Each heart beat, feeble as it was, caused minor bleeding. Some blood was pumped along his veins, some was bled out through the hole in his heart. Blood was being pumped into him to replace the little he lost. There had been some argument over that. Her mother had said yes, the doctors treating him had said no. The blood loss was so slow they said that it wasn't a concern. And that he would die anyway in a manner of minutes. Her mother had won.

She looked over to the corner of the room. Shego was there. Kim wasn't sure why she'd allowed her in. But she had. She recalled the look on the woman's face as she'd ordered Kim to take Ron and flee. That total acceptance of death to avenge the person Kim had held in her arms. The person Kim had failed to protect. She thought that maybe the person willing to do that deserved to at least be there when he died.

Then, just the day before, Shego had done something strange. She had stood up and approached Ron as close as Kim would allow her too. Her eyes had been wide, her face had held the same expression as her mother's had when she had felt that first heart beat. "There's a chance." The woman had said. Then she had went back to her chair.

The heart monitor beeped again. He wasn't dead yet. Kim felt hope. He should be dying, but he wasn't. And though Shego had refused to say anything else Kim held her words in her heart. There was a chance.

* * *

Shego had woke up to a world of pain. The people at the Middleton hospital where Hego had brought her had not known how to treat her wounds. They had set the bones. Or at least as many of them as they could. Hego had tried to get them to give her more pain killers since her body got rid of any foreign substances with astonishing speed but they had refused. Not that it was too bad when she didn't move. It didn't really matter.

What did anything matter? The Buffoon was dead. She had failed to kill the monster that had killed him. She was still alive out there somewhere. And she had a star ship. She was probably far beyond Shego's reach by now.

As for her. Her wounds would heal regardless of what the medical staff did. Her body would mend without pain killers. Even the tiny amount of food she was being fed would only slow the process down.

Then word had come from Global Justice. Her pain killers were increased and she was allowed to eat whatever she wanted. It meant she would heal faster. But what did that matter. Soon they would come for her and she would be in a cell again. This time she would stay there.

She had spoke with Hego a bit. It seemed he had been called by Wade. Wade had wanted information on what the Team Go electrical systems were like with the sunspot activity. He had, in passing, remarked that something close to Middleton was reacting to the sunspots. Hego it seemed, had decided to check it out. He was after all a hero. Strange things were to be checked out. He had seen Kim's car fleeing at over a hundred kilometers per hour. That, to Shego, is where things got strange. Rather than following protocol and stopping the speeding car her brother had decided to check out the lair. Even stranger was him calling her Amy, not Shego, but Amy. Not that it mattered any more.

Then after two days lying in bed she head heard that the Buffoon was dying, but not dead. She had asked to see him and it seemed that Princess, who stood guard over him day and night, had allowed it. The gratitude she had felt for Princess then was beyond words.

He had been so pale. The heart monitor showed a pulse rate slow beyond belief. An IV slowly dripped blood into him. She wanted to hold his hand. To be beside him. But she knew Princess wouldn't allow things to go quite that far. Better to be quiet and sit in her chair. At least then she would be with him in his final moments. She marveled at what control he'd gained over his body through the use of Tai Shing Pek Kwar. He had mentioned it to her a few times. She felt pride even as she watched him die.

For some reason she was allowed to remain. Global Justice did not come to collect her.

And then, just the day before, she had felt it. If she held still and focused she could feel the sense of power from his direction. Comet powers being used. How he had got them she didn't know. She just knew he did. And that if he did then he had a chance.

She sat in her chair and waited and hoped.

* * *

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The two women in the room both jumped. Fear rose in their throats before they realized it was Kim's Kimmunicator.

Kim flipped the device open. "What is it Wade?"

The genius appeared on the screen. His picture was bit out of focus. The sunspots were affecting just about everything. "How's Ron?" He asked.

"The same." Kim replied. She looked at his still form and had to clench her teeth together to keep from crying. She had done quite a bit of that lately.

Wade noticed her reaction and continued with the message he had called about. "It seems your brothers put a satellite in orbit. Well almost. It's a decaying orbit. They didn't get it quite to where they wanted it. But the technology they used is more resistant to the sunspots than anything else we've got. We actually managed to do a few scans of Middleton with it."

"Oh?" Kim was intrigued. If Wade was calling her about it then he had found something.

"There's a ship above Drakken's lair. We're guessing it Warmonga's ship."

"Any way we can get to it?" Kim asked. She felt Shego looking over her shoulder but ignored her.

"No. Not with the sunspot activity. And it seems to have a barrier of some sort around it anyway. But we're also getting some faint readings from the ground. We think it's Warmonga."

"Thanks Wade." The redhead answered.

"Be careful Kim." Wade begged her.

"I will.": Kim answered. She lied. Anything to hurt that bitch back. Anything.

She turned to go to the car and froze. She turned back to Ron and took the wristlet from the stand beside him. "I will bring it back Ron. I promise." She told the still form.

She looked at Shego standing in the doorway. She knew she would be going with her. The expression on her face said so. Kim recalled her expression in the lair. She knew something was going on that she didn't know about. Didn't have the capacity to think about right now. Not with Ron like this. She took the gauntlet from the same stand and tossed it to Shego. "That's Ron's. When we get back it's his again. Understand." The villainess nodded. Kim tossed her several batteries.

_It was, _Kim thought, _okay to make a pact with a lesser devil to get rid of a greater devil. _Besides, she knew she had no chance alone. Anything to pay that bitch back.

"Not bringing your boy toy along?" Shego asked.

"He's not my boy toy. He's my boyfriend." Kim answered.

Shego decided to met her halfway. Princess was after all playing nice. "Not bringing Mark along?" She asked.

"No. Not for this. Synthodrones, sure. Henchmen, sure. But not for this."

Shego nodded. It was reasonable decision. A single hit would kill him.

Kim reached over to show Shego how to work the gauntlet but the villainess pulled away.

"I already know." Shego told her. She inserted a battery into it.

Kim wondered how she knew but didn't bother to ask. She'd probably seen it in use enough times to have figured it out.

The two headed for the car and were soon on their way.

Kim considered the enemy she would soon be facing and realized she knew nothing about her. There was only one source for her questions. "What do you know about Warmonga?" She asked.

"Not much." Shego admitted. "I just showed up and there she was. Seems she took a liking to Dr. D."

"How does she fight?"

"Like nothing you've ever seen before. She's not like the other villains you've fought Princess. They just want to take over the world. They don't want to kill anyone. This woman, she likes killing people. That makes the way she fights different."

"She strong?" Kim asked. She knew she was from the hit she'd taken. She wanted Shego's view though.

"Strong enough to send me through one of those stone walls in that lair."

"Oh." That, Kim decided, was strong.

"And she's fast. Very fast." Shego added. "Plus she has a force field that can block my plasma."

"So. How do we beat her then?"

"I wish I knew." Shego replied. "With that wristlet you can punch through whatever she has protecting her. Except maybe for the force field. Not sure there. Just make sure the capacitor is on. Too bad that capacitor only works for one hit"

_How did she know it has a capacitor_, Kim wondered. _And how does she know it's a one shot deal?_

"What does she have protecting her other than the force field?" Kim wondered.

"Not sure. But there is something. Hit her with some low level plasma and it didn't leave a mark. Turned the plasma up to high and she used the force field."

"Low level? High level?" Kim asked.

"Low level is what you normally see me use. High level, well you saw me use that once."

"Oh." Kim wondered why Shego bothered with low and high levels. Why not high level all the time.

Shego guessed the question. "High level kills. Besides my plasma burns me too."

"It does?" Kim was surprised.

"It does." Shego replied.

"What did that matchbox mean to you? It made you use high level." Kim found herself asking.

Shego remained quiet.

* * *

Soon they were at the ruins. Warmonga was standing there.

"Where is the Great Blue?" She demanded.

"Great Blue?" Kim wondered.

"She means Drakken." Shego explained.

"Great?" Kim wondered.

"That was my thoughts exactly." Shego admitted.

"Do not mock the Great Blue!" Warmonga ordered.

Shego let the plasma flow over her. She knew if she waited too long Warmonga would be hitting her and she wouldn't have a change.

Kim watched the process, still not believing it. _She could have defeated me at any time, _she realized.

Warmonga attacked. Her punch went through Shego's plasma and knocked her to the ground. _Not as hard as before, _Shego realized. _For some reason my plasma does weaken her blows. _

Shego flipped to her feet. She moved in to attack Warmonga who rapidly backed away. Shego stopped following. She was pretty sure she could trust Princess in this fight. She wanted revenge too. To win they had to stick close together so they could back each other up. Shego backed back closer to the Princess. She did toss a few bolts of plasma towards Warmonga but the force field came on and blocked them. It was, Shego decided, a waste of energy. She stopped and the force field went down again.

Shego stopped and waited. She studied Warmonga. The alien she knew was blindingly fast. She would have to predict how the alien would move and react on that. Given the alien's tendency to just punch and kick it wasn't too hard to predict. She waited.

Warmonga moved and Shego jumped forward into the punch before it was ready to land. She wrapped her arms around the alien and tried to hold on and lift her from the ground.

Kim saw her chance. Knew that Shego had done it just for her to get an attack in. She jumped in close, behind the giantess and punched like she had never punched before. She felt the wristlet grow warm and felt the sensation as the capacitor fired. Her blow went through whatever defenses the woman had and she felt something crack. _A rib probably_, she thought.

Both the giantess and Shego were knocked forward from the force of the blow. Shego landed and rolled coming to her feet. The giantess, slowed by pain, was still getting up. Shego poured plasma at her only to see the force field come up again. She cursed.

Kim took the wristlet, still warm, and plugged it into her suit. It was a new feature Wade had added so she could recharge her gadgets in the field. It was handy. The display told her thirty second to full charge. She gulped as she realized it took twenty percent of her suit's energy to recharge the thing.

"Not much damage." Kim commented sourly as she back away from the giantess, Shego beside her.

"I was hoping for more." Shego admitted. She was keeping a close watch on Warmonga. The biggest danger at the moment was that the alien would attack Kim who, while faster than Shego, wasn't nearly as durable. If she did that Shego would have to try and intercept her.

Kim took the wrislet, now recharge and slid it back on her wrist again. "Too bad I can wear one of those with my suit." She pointed at the gauntlet Shego had.

"Yeah. At the moment I'm wishing that too Princess."

Warmong moved. Charging Kim this time.

Shego ran head long into her and tried to hold her again. Warmonga flipped backward and tried to circle around. Shego tossed plasma at her and the force field went up.

Kim smiled. "Keep that up for a second." She ran at the giantess and punched. Just as the punch was going to land Shego stopped the plasma. The force field went down and Kim's punch went through. The giantess screamed as more of her ribs were broken.

Kim and Shego backed away again. Kim was recharging the wristlet. Her suit was at fifty percent power when she slid it back onto her wrist.

Warmonga charged Shego.

This time Kim predicted her attack and leapt forward and tripped the woman. Warmonga went down and Shego had an opening. She punched with all her might, multiplied by the power the gauntlet added. The giantess gasped from breath and rolled away.

Shego changed batteries.

Kim and Shego studied Warmonga. Sure they had broke a few ribs, but the woman was obviously not feeling it much. She was as fast as before and still attacking. Shego threw some plasma and the force field went up. Kim moved in and launched another attack. Just as before Shego stopped the plasma as the blow was about to land and the force field went down.

Kim felt the wristlet grow hotter, felt the capacitor fire, and then another of Warmonga's ribs broke. The giantess went flying.

Kim and Shego backed back again. Kim recharge the wristlet and said, '"Suit's down to twenty percent. Last shot with the wristlet."

"Hand it here Princess?" Shego asked and Kim gave it to her. "Now to find an opening." Shego studied Warmonga who stared back.

"Given the way she likes to charge shouldn't be a problem." Kim replied.

"True." Shego agreed.

Warmonga charged Shego and got tripped by Kim. She tried to roll back.

Shego punched. She felt the wristlet burn hot, felt the capacitors fire. The blow landed and Warmonga screamed. Or tried to. Shego's punch had taken her in the face. Not just the face, Shego realized, in the mouth. Her hand was wrist deep in the giantess mouth. She sent plasma down her arm. All she could. Saw the force field come up. It circled around her arm but didn't, as she had feared, sever it. Her hand was inside the shield and her plasma was sent in a direct route straight down the giantess' throat.

The force field went down and Shego was sent flying. She looked up to see that Warmonga had half her face and throat burned off. She could see the bones of the skull and chin. Both eyes were gone. Shego prepared to send more plasma her way but once again the giantess hit a button on her belt and was lift into the sky.

Shego screamed and sent her plasma skyward in hopes of hitting her. The giantess was already out of sight.

Kim and Shego sat back. "Damn!" They both said together.

"Didn't know you knew such language Princess." Shego said.

"At times like this I'm a fast learner." Kim answered. "That was high level plasma you sent into her like that?" She asked.

"Yeah. But once the affects of the wristlet wore off she had some sort of protection. She didn't get the full affect. And with that force field I could only use my hand to channel the plasma. Damn that force field."

"She's going to heal again?" Kim asked.

"Yeah. She has some method of regeneration. She was pretty bad off last time she fled, yet when we got here she didn't have a scratch."

* * *

Kim and Shego returned to the hospital. Shego had returned the gauntlet, along with the batteries and wristlet, without having to be asked. They entered Ron's room and saw Kim's mother there, bending over Ron. They both stopped, knowing something had changed.

Mrs. Possible looked up and said. "His left lung started working at twenty percent capacity just five minutes ago. The hole in his heart has somehow scabbed over. His heart beat is now at once per minute." Her expression held disbelief and hope at the same time.

"He's past the worst of it now." Shego went and sat down beside his side. Kim didn't push her away.

"What do you know Shego?" She demanded.

Shego thought for a second. "Actually Princess I don't much of anything about this. Don't ask me where or how, but the Buffoon has comet powers now. So long as he's getting oxygen and his blood is flowing he will heal." Actually she thought she had a good idea of where, she just didn't know how.

"Comet powers?" Both Kim and her mother asked. Shocked.

Shego shrugged. "Like I said. I don't how. But I can feel them working. When comet powers are in use another person with comet powers can sense it as a sort of tingling sensation. I can feel that now. They are in use healing his body."

Kim took Ron's other side and held his hand. _He's going to live, _she thought. She didn't care how.

She looked over at Shego. Saw the way she was holding his other hand - right hand cradling his wrist, left hand firmly holding his hand. Saw the way her eyes never left his face. Saw the look on her face. Relief. Hope. Joy. Love. She recalled the look that had been on her face when she thought Ron was dead. _She loves him, she would die for him, _Kim realized. She couldn't understand why Shego would feel that way, she just knew she did.

They sat and waited and hoped.

* * *

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The sound made Kim and Shego jump again. Kim Flipped the machine open.

"What's up Wade?" She asked.

"Bad news Kim. Seems that ship has started dropping war machines all over the planet. A thousand of them to be exact." Wade's voice was panicked.

"War machines? Can't Global Justice do something?" Kim asked.

"They tried. Everyone of the world's militaries are trying. Nothing is working."

* * *

End of Chapter.

So, the comet that hit Team Go was artificial. Who knew. But wasn't it obvious?

Ron still out of it so not much interaction between him and Shego.

Ron will be getting a major power boost. It just won't be Monkey Kung Fu.

Also, Kim and Shego managed to work together for a bit without killing each other. And Kim know Shego loves Ron.

In the next chapter, the secret of Kim's powers.


	17. Chapter 17

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

_**Waking Up,... A Nice Shower,... Warmonga,... Warhok**_

He stood at the center of his being, the focal point of Mind, Body, and Spirit. The glow that seemed to fill all corners of this space was no longer blue. Instead it was filled with a light cyan colored light. _Blue and green combined, _he thought, pleased. _A part of Shego has become a part of my very essence._ He looked out and surveyed the world before him. The wounds that had threatened his life were no more.

* * *

Shego sat holding the hand of the Buffoon. She was tired. Her right hand held his wrist, cradling it, her left held his hand. Her torso was leaned forward against the railing of the bed to rest a little. Across from her Princess slept, her hand still holding the Buffoon's other hand. The sensation she felt from the Buffoon, those of comet powers at work, was fading. He would soon wake up. She wanted to let Princess sleep. To have a moment with him alone. But Princess had held her vigilance for eight days with only the exception they had made to face Warmonga. And Princess had played fair with her. Letting her in to see him. Letting her sit with him. She wanted that moment alone, but... She sighed. She reached over and prodded the sleeping redhead.

"Huh?" Kim muttered as she slowly woke up. She was dead tired. Then the memory of where she was came to her and she was instantly awake. She looked across at Shego who was the only one close enough to have woken her. "Is something wrong?" She asked with a worried voice.

"He will soon wake up Princess. Thought you might want to be awake when he does."

"He will?" Light shone in Kim's eyes at that news. "How do you know?" She asked. To her Ron still looked to be in a deep sleep.

"The comet powers are not working to heal him any more. They've finished so he should soon wake up. At least I think he will. With the damage gone there shouldn't be any reason for him to keep himself in such a deep sleep."

"Oh." Kim tighten her grip on her best friend's hand a little. Not enough to disturb him if he was coming to.

"Should get some food in here." Shego suggested. "He will be hungry."

"Will it be okay for him to eat so soon? He had a lot of damage and hasn't eaten for eight days?"

"He won't just want food. He will need food. Those wounds were pretty bad, it would have taken a lot of energy to heal them. On top of that he had to develop those powers first. He will be starving."

"Oh."

"Don't worry Princess. If he wasn't able to eat the comet powers would still be at working fixing things so he could. He can handle food."

Kim buzzed the nurse's station and asked for food. She left a message for her mother. She would want to be here too. So would Mark but he'd been kept busy. Those war machines were acting strange and people were out handling the various emergencies they were causing.

She looked down at her best friend's sleeping form. Over the last two days his lungs had not just went back to a hundred percent efficiency but to two hundred percent. That Shego had explained, was the comet powers enhancing them so he would have enough oxygen to support his enhanced abilities. Her own, Shego had added was at two hundred as well while Hego's was at three hundred percent. It was normal. The hole in his heart had closed and his heart beat was at forty beats per minute.

The food arrived and immediately the nose of Ron Stoppable began to twitch. He sat up, his eyes focused in the direction the smell came from. He was distracted from the food by Kim throwing her arms around him and hugging him. "Hey, KP." How's things been? His eyes focused on Shego, running over her body, looking for any sign at all that she was hurt. She seemed okay other than looking tired. Relief flooded him.

Shego smiled back him. "Hey Buffoon. Finally awake I see."

"Don't call him that." Came Princess' muffled voice. She was Shego noted, crying. But then she felt a few tears run down her own cheeks too. She wiped them away before Princess could turn around and see them. More replaced them.

"Hey Shego." Ron smiled at her. His hand moved so it was now his hand holding hers. "Guess what." He told her.

"You got comet powers now." Shego couldn't help but smile back into the eyes that were focused on her.

"Yep."

"Just how did you get those?" Kim asked. She backed off a bit, no long hugging him but still holding his hand.

"Well, see KP... Hmmm, there's a long story behind that."

"My turn." Shego interrupted. She threw herself on the Buffoon, holding him in a hug. Pushing Princess to one side.

"Shego!" Kim exclaimed.

"What Princess? You got to hug him." Came Shego's voice.

"But that's different!"

"How so?" Shego asked.

"It just is. Stop that. Let him go." Kim insisted. Then she saw Ron's arms had come up to close around Shego. He was holding her back.

"You're enjoying this?" She accused.

"Most definitely KP." He didn't let go. He held the one he loved tighter.

Kim stared back in shock. She knew Shego loved Ron. How that came to be she didn't know. But now here was Ron accepting hugs from her. It was mind baffling. She would talk to him later about the risks of holding plasma throwing supervillainess like that. But for now, she decided, it was okay. He was alive. That was all that mattered. Anything else could be sorted out later. His hand was warm in hers. Alive.

The rumbling sound reminded Shego just how hungry the Buffoon must be. She reluctantly backed off. She pulled the cart with the food closer and let him have access to it.

"Is Rufus okay?" He asked.

"Over at my place acting as a guinea pig for the tweebs." Kim answered. She had made sure that he was taken care of.

Ron dug in. The food vanished in less than a minute. He would need more, a lot more. But for now it was enough. He took a sniff. "I need a shower." He stated the obvious.

"I'll call a nurse to help you." Kim offered.

"No need KP, I'm perfectly fine now. After I want to know what happened in that lair." He stood up and headed for the washroom. He was thankful to see it did include a shower and had towels.

"Ron. You shouldn't move. Not so soon." Kim stated, sounding worried.

"Don't worry Princess. I'll help him." Shego stood and walked into the washroom. The door closed behind her.

"Shego." Kim screamed. She tried the door it was locked. She went to kick it open.

"KP. I'm getting undressed. You can't come in here."

Kim froze just short of kicking the door down. He sounded okay. But he was in there... with her... undressied. She sat down on the floor, hard.

"You know Kimmie, I imagine catching comet powers requires some pretty close physical contact."

Kim looked up to see her mother standing in the doorway. "Close?" She managed to asked.

Her mother nodded. "Real close."

Kim gulped. She knew what her mother was getting at. Her face went red. "Ron wouldn't. Not with her. She's a villainess."

"He seem okay? No dizziness or anything? He seem coherent?" Her mother asked.

"He seemed okay." Kim replied. "He ate by himself. And he could walk without stumbling. But coherent? If he was coherent he wouldn't be in there with her alone."

"He should be okay then. I've been on the phone with Team Go quite a bit since Shego mentioned Ron having comet powers. According to them, if he has them, he should be okay. They heal even nerve damage and spinal cord injuries. Of course, according to them it's nearly impossible to transfer the powers. They tried and failed."

Kim managed to pull herself together enough to move back to her chair. She looked at the washroom door. For a shower they were taking an awful long time.

* * *

An hour later the door to the washroom opened and Ron and Shego exited. They saw a glaring Kim and a patiently waiting Mr. Dr. P.

"How are you feeling Ron?" Was the first words spoken, by Mrs. Dr. P.

"Good. Better than good actually." It was true. In that state he had had no idea of what was happening. He had awoke to see Kim and Shego okay, Mark he'd heard was okay, and Rufus was okay. And that hour with Shego had been incredible!

He picked a chair, pulled it close to Shego, and sat down. "So, what's been happening since I was asleep? By the way, just how long was I asleep?"

"Eight days." Kim and Shego told him at the same time.

Ron blinked. "Really. That long?" He looked at the IV sitting beside his bed. "You gave me blood?"

"We did. I thought you needed it." Mrs. Dr. P informed him.

Ron considered how his oxygen had lasted longer than expected. _That little bit extra came from the blood she gave me, _he realized. "Thanks Mrs. Dr. P. I would have died without it. Was pretty close."

"Glad to hear it Ron. When I heard you had comet powers I was worried it might do more harm than good."

"So what happened in that lair?" Ron asked.

Between them, with only a few snippy remarks at each other, Kim and Shego filled him in on the last eight days.

"We can't figure out why those war machines are acting the way they do." Kim informed him. "They destroy a building, then they sit back and wait some time before they destroy the next. With their technology our entire civilization should have been wiped out by now, not just around ten thousand buildings. The world has billions of buildings. At this rate it will take them decades to destroy everything. And they are slow enough that we got time to evacuate."

"That one is easy to figure out." Ron told them.

"Really. I would like to hear more about that." A voice spoke from the doorway.

They turned to see Dr. Betty Director there.

"Come to take me back?" Shego asked.

Dr. Betty Direction just waved a hand her way as if it wasn't important at the time. "What's your theory?" She asked Ron.

"They want to cause the maximum amount of suffering possible. They're playing like a cat plays with a mouse. The rate at which the buildings are being destroyed is slow but it is faster than they can be replaced. I'm also betting they are hitting agricultural areas. Not all of them but just enough to ensure people go hungry. In a few years things will be bad. The number of homeless will be a billion or two. Food will have to be rationed to just provide the basic minimum for survival. Billions of people will be suffering, millions will have died. They will continue the process, playing with us, slowly destroying more and more of our infrastructure until billions are dead and what's left is living in absolute misery. They will play it out until they can't get any more fun from us. They won't kill our race off. They will want to come back in a century or two when we've started to rebuild to repeat the process."

"How did you figure that out?" Dr. Betty Director asked.

"From the machines I saw in Drakken's lab. They are all based on hate. The Lorwardians believe themselves to be a superior race. Everything exists for them to play with. From those machines I'm pretty sure we're dealing with a race of psychopaths."

"Interesting." Dr. Director Betty sat down on the last remaining chair. "Whether or not you are right on their motives I can't say for sure. Global Justice psychologists say you are. But your analysis of their method of operation is pretty much spot on."

"How do you know that?" Kim asked.

Dr. Betty Director was silent for a few seconds. "What I'm about to say remains in this room okay?" She looked at Shego.

They all nodded, Shego included."

"You've heard about the WOW signal that was received from space in 1977?" She asked.

Again they all nodded.

"Well, after that Global Justice put its own SETI program in place. We received what we call the WOW-2 and the WOW-3 signals. They were both analyzed. It seems that two worlds were hit by the Lorwardians. They took over two decades to reduce those races down to less than a hundred million people on worlds that once supported around ten billion. They didn't wipe them out, they did exactly as Ron described. They left just enough for the race to rebuild."

Dr. Betty Director looked at Kim closely. "We spotted one of their ships around earth nineteen years ago. At the time they didn't do much, but they did play with us a bit." Once again she peered at Kim.

Kim got nervous from the attention. _Why is she looking at me, _she wondered.

"I'm guessing we weren't quite advanced enough to be worth playing with then?" Ron suggested.

Dr. Betty Direction shrugged. "Why they didn't attack then we aren't sure. But as I said they did play with us a bit."

"What do you mean by play with us?" Mrs. Dr. P asked. The way the woman was looking at her daughter was making her feel nervous herself.

"They performed experiments on a few people. They genetically altered some of us. To be precise, They would put a pregnant woman in stasis. Genetically modify the fetus she was carrying. And then release the stasis. The women never knew anything had happened."

Mrs. Dr. P now looked at her daughter and swallowed. "What did they do to the fetuses?" She asked.

"Made then stronger and faster than normal. They are also naturals when it comes to fighting."

"I see." Shego suddenly interrupted. "They don't just like destroying, they like physical combat on a personal level. A normal human just isn't going to cut it. So they changed a few and then, when they matured, came back. That's what I got from fighting Warmonga. She wanted to have fun killing, but just squashing insects wasn't fun."

"You may be right." Dr. Betty Director remarked. "It's as good an explanation as any." She looked at Kim again.

"Why are you looking at me?" She asked.

"You don't think..." Mrs. Dr. P started to ask. She couldn't finish the question.

"We're hundred percent sure of it." Dr. Betty Director answered. "One of our spy satellites saw the procedure take place. It's one of the reasons why we were so interested in her."

Kim gulped. "Hey wait now. I'm just normal. Like everyone else." She looked at her mother to back her up.

"I love you Kimmie." Was the response she got.

"But I'm just normal." She insisted.

"Kimmie. You can run on walls. You can toss around men four times your size." Her mother told her.

"I'm normal." Kim insisted.

"You are. In most things. In all the important things." Her mother reassured her.

"But..."

"We tested your reflexes when you started doing stuff no one else could do." Her mother told her.

"And?" Kim asked.

"They were better than any natural process could explain. Same with your strength."

"But..." She found her mother's arms around her. Comforting her.

"You're normal honey, just a bit faster and just a bit stronger. In everything else you're normal. We did some pretty through checking." Her mother reassured her.

"Am I human?"

"A hundred percent so honey."

Ron knelt down beside her and wrapped his arms around her other side. "To me you're just KP. So long as you don't turn out to be a monkey things are cool."

"If it matters any you're just my arch-foe." Shego interjected. "Of course now that I know for sure you're enhanced I won't be taking it so easy on you." She smiled at the girl. She recalled how she'd freaked out when she got comet powers. As fun as they were she had wondered if she was still human.

Dr. Betty Director raised an eyebrow at the super villainess' attempt to comfort the girl.

"Have Global Justice tried taking out the war machines?" Ron asked.

"We have." Dr. Betty Director informed him. "We even evacuated one small isolated community and used a 50-megaton nuke. The machine survived."

"That's probably a good thing." Ron told her.

"Oh." Dr. Betty Director raised an eyebrow at that.

"They want fun. But if they find something dangerous they'll just wipe it out. If you had destroyed their machines they would have just used what passes for a doomsday device for them and wiped the planet clean." Ron shrugged. "At least that's how I'm guessing they would act."

"So what do we do?"

"We need to take out Warmonga first. If she isn't around then she won't be able to give the order for the planet to be wiped out when those machines are destroyed."

"She's pretty tough. I burned off half her face and it didn't stop her." Shego informed him.

Ron shrugged again. "She's not human, which means a different anatomy. Losing a face to her might not mean the same thing as it would to a human. Besides, she's making use of technology to enhance herself."

"How?" Kim asked. She was still trying to get over the shock of being not normal but was still paying attention.

Ron reached over and grabbed his wristlet. He flipped open a cover on it and started pressing button. "Hrm. This is almost fried." He muttered.

"Sorry." Kim and Shego both said.

"Oh well, more data to work with." Ron shrugged. "It keeps a list of the frequencies it encounters. When I hit her the wristlet got warm and it required the capacitors to get through her defenses. She had a device similar to this one. Only thing is hers covers her whole body while this one just punches a small hole through an energy field."

He looked up at Shego. "You said her punches were weaker when you were using a lot of plasma right? Well that's why. That device was drawing a lot of energy to defend against that plasma. To keep it from burning her. That meant she had less energy left over to power something like the gauntlets." He pointed at the gauntlet resting on the stand beside him. "Hence weaker punches."

"Thing is those devices take a lot of power." Ron continued. "She must be getting it from somewhere. I would bet those sunspots aren't actually the result of sunspots. It an effect of using her ship for broadcasting power to those machines and to herself."

"Can we beat her?" Dr. Betty Director asked.

Ron nodded. "Not too difficult. Just need time. Would be easier if I had more of that material I used to make the wristlet. For some reason I can't find more of it anywhere."

"What is it?"

"It's something that's a combination of metal and crystal. I can do without it, but it helps."

"If it's what I'm thinking about then Global Justice might have some." The woman informed him.

* * *

Ron, Kim, and Shego, along with Dr. Betty Direction relocated to the nearest Global Justice base. Ron had insisted, to the dismay of Kim, on Shego being present. She had, he pointed out, been the only to seriously hurt Warmonga so far.

"Seems pretty empty." Ron commented as they walked through the base.

"It is. Almost all our agents are out helping with evacuating people from the paths of those war machines. We don't have many left to man the bases."

They descended several levels beneath the ground and Dr. Betty Director opened a vault. She pointed in. "Parts and stuff we managed to scavenge from some of the lairs we've taken down. Along with other items.

Ron walked in. He looked around. Next to waking up beside Shego this had to be heaven. Soon he was busy.

"What are you making?" Shego asked.

"How would you like a device that lets you get through that force field of hers?" He asked.

"Would love it."

"That's simple enough. When Kim was punching Warmonga the wristlet got a good reading on its frequency. I can make something that will open a hole in it. Will have to get within three feet though." Ron paused for a moment. "And while I'm at it I can add the functionality of a wrislet in with it. You should be able to fire plasma that gets through then."

Shego felt herself smiling. She bent down and kissed him on the lips.

"Shego!" Kim screamed.

Dr. Betty Director raised her eyebrows again. _Never a dull moment around either of those three, _she thought. _I think maybe sometimes I would like a dull moment. Just once._ She recalled how easily Shego seemed able to break out of her cell. _Nope, never a dull moment, _she thought again.

It took Ron two days to build the gadgets he thought they needed.

There was the wristlet, version two. It was a lot bigger but it carried enough capacitors for eight hits. It also included the ability to disrupt a small portion of the force field. Depending on how she set it Shego could get within three feet and pour plasma through the shield, or actually move in and punch. He made one for himself too. He'd tried and could use plasma. It would take some time to learn how to use it properly though.

For Kim he made a gauntlet that was compatible with her suit. The suit's energy supply he tripled. It also had the ability to get through the force field and would automatically act as a wristlet.

"The one problem I don't know how to solve is finding her. If she remains in her ship I don't know how to reach her." He told the group around him.

* * *

The problem was solved two hours later.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Kim opened the Kimmunicator. "What's the sitch Wade?" She asked.

"The twins satellite just went over Middleton again. She's back on the ground." The genius informed her. "Hi Ron." He waved.

"Hi Wade." Ron greeted back.

"Know what she's doing on the ground?" Kim asked Wade.

"No. Resolution isn't that good." Wade answered.

"She's trying to locate the pieces from those devices she was going to give to Drakken." Ron answered. "I'm guessing she doesn't want to leave Lorwardian technology lying around."

A Global Justice jet got them to the location within minutes.

Warmonga saw them. Her face turned up in a snarl. She flicked her wrist and the spear that had nearly killed Ron appeared. It seemed she was taking no chances on being defeated this time.

Ron flooded his system with strength and speed boosts. Along with the comet powers he now had it was a very potent combination.

Warmonga charged, aiming for the one she'd thought she'd killed before. Her spear was aimed for his heart again.

Ron saw the move coming. His speed now was nearly equal to that of Warmonga's. He twisted to one side and grabbed her wrist as she thrust the spear at him. He felt the new wristlet get warm as it negated her protection and he twisted. Her wrist snapped. She flinched backwards and he grabbed the spear as she did so.

Warmonga stared at him in surprise. She'd thought he was dead. That she'd killed him. Yet now he was here and seemed to be a match for her. The surprise was written on her face.

Ron tossed the spear behind him. Shego he noticed was covered in plasma from head to toe.

Ron moved towards the giantess this time. Slowly, watching her reaction. If she got away this time she might very well just order the earth's destruction.

She charged him again. This time going for punches. Ron leapt into her charge and grabbed hold of her. Much like Shego had done once before when he had been asleep. He felt the plasma rise around him. He didn't know how to control it well yet, but he could call it. He screamed as his flesh was burned.

Shego saw her chance and jumped at the immobilized giantess. She poured forth her plasma and the force field came up. A hole appeared in it where her hands were aimed and the plasma in its full fury went through. She heard the Buffoon's screams and knew the pain he was in. She upped the plasma she was throwing even thought it meant her own flesh would burn all the faster too.

Before her the head of Warmonga began to disform. The skin peeled off. The bones began to blacken. The mouth was open in a scream and Shego thrust her hands into that mouth again. Plasma poured down the giantess' throat.

Kim searched for an opening, but there was none. If she hit Warmonga then not only the alien but Ron and Shego would go flying. The the giantess started to rise into the air. She jumped forward and her hand penetrated the force field. She grabbed hold of a leg and held on.

Ron felt himself rise from the ground. He knew Warmonga was fleeing. That couldn't be allowed. He held on.

Shego saw them start to rise and grabbed on the nearly destroyed head of her enemy. She felt herself rise too.

They were drawn upward at a rapid pace. Fast and faster until they, along with Warmonga, passed through the barrier around her ship. Then they were inside the ship.

Warmonga struggled, trying to force the pest that had latched itself to her off. She felt something break but he held on.

Shego resumed her plasma. Throwing all she could. The giantess writhed in agony.

Ron felt himself go flying as the alien managed to shake him off. He struggled to his feet. She had to be stopped before she reached the controls of her ship.

Shego felt herself go flying as the giantess hit her. The hit wasn't hard, having to go through her plasma first, but it still knocked her away. She came to her feet immediately.

Kim saw the giantess shake Ron free and saw Shego go flying. She too knew the alien couldn't be allowed to reach the controls of the ship. She leapt forward, as Warmonga was about to turn and run, and hit with all her might. The alien went flying and smashed into a wall. Kim saw her trying to rise and hit again. Then again. She kept the alien pinned to the wall with brutal hit after brutal hit until both Ron and Shego arrived beside her. Then the two of them poured plasma out into the body of the alien.

They kept it up until they had no more plasma left to use. Both of them dropped to their feet. They, along with Kim, stared at the body of Warmonga. There was little left of the alien. With her protections negated by Ron's devices the plasma had hit her full force. Even the super strong body genetic engineering had made for her couldn't withstand that power. She wouldn't threaten anyone ever again.

The three of them sat back to rest. Kim eyed the burns on both Ron and Shego.

"They will heal Princess. At least the world is safe. Sort of. Still got to do something about those war machines." Shego stared at the Buffoon and hoped he wasn't in too much pain.

Ron struggled to his feet. Kim and Shego stood too. "Just want to look around a bit." He explained.

The three of them walked down one corridor. There they found the body of another Lorwardian. A male this time. He was frozen in what they assumed was suspended animation. The turned and tried another corridor. They came to what appeared to be the control room.

"Hrm." Ron said. He sat down in what seemed to be the main chair.

"It's all alien writing Ron. What can you do if you can't read anything." Shego asked. She knew he was good with machines but those had been earth machines made by human minds.

"A machine is a machine. They all work on the same principles Shego." He pointed at a console. "That's navigation. I can tell from the display around it." He pointed again. "That life support. Again from the display." He looked at the display in front of him. "Given that they worship violence above all else I bet the main seat is for the weapons. Including those war machines."

He sat back and studied what was in front of him for six hours. He reached forward and pressed a button a number of times. Each time he saw the display beside it change, the bar it showed getting smaller. "Kim, go to the airlock we got pulled in through and see if you can contact Wade with the Kimmunicator. Ask about the sunspots."

Kim did so. When she returned she reported that the level of the sunspots was now at half the level they had been.

Ron pressed the button a few more times. The bar on the display completely disappeared. When Kim checked with Wade again the sunspots were gone.

"That should help with destroying the war machines. They aren't getting any power broadcasted to them now." Ron told them. "They will still have internal power. But the controls to them must be here somewhere."

He studied the controls for another three hours before he dared to make a move. He reach out to another button and pressed it a few times. The bar on the display beside it grew smaller. "Ask Wade if there's been any change in the war machine's behavior."

Kim ran off and came running back faster. "They're faster now." She told him, panicked.

Ron swiftly reached out and pressed the button again, setting the bar back to its original level. _Shows time not rate, _he determined. He pressed the button until the bar was a bit bigger than it had been before. "Check now."

Kim ran off and came back. "A bit slower she reported."

Ron pressed the button until the bar hit the top of the screen. It disappeared. "Ask now." He hoped he hadn't just destroyed the earth.

Kim came back. "They've all stopped moving." She reported.

They heard a sound behind them. The male Lorwardian that had been in suspended animation stood there. He looked surprised.

"Damn." Ron said. "I should have thought of this. With no Lorwardians around the ship would have woke him up for orders. We can't let him near the controls. No matter what!"

The alien moved fast, leaping toward one of the consoles. Shego was the closest and managed to get in front of him. Her plasma was rising from her feet again and flowing up her arms. _We don't have enough energy left to fight another one, _she realized. _This is going to be bad. _She hardly felt the blow.

The alien reached out to swipe the pest in front of him away. He screamed.

"He doesn't have the devices on him that Warmonga did." Ron realized. "He came here first to check on things."

The alien backed away. Then he turned and fled. The three gave chase. He was fast. Ron might have been faster but he was badly burned and unlike Shego couldn't fully handle the pain. It slowed him down. Shego saw that she was losing ground and tried harder. The alien was fast.

Kim ran. She focused on the monster in front of her and ran, knowing she was leaving the other two behind. But in front of her was one of the beasts who had changed her DNA. She wondered if she was still human. Her mother said yes, but she still wondered. Rage gave her strength. She caught up and he turned to fight her. She hit him in the stomach. The changes they had made to her DNA made her strong. Her suit made her stronger. The gauntlet she wore amplified that already incredible strength. She felt bones snap beneath her punch and saw blood fountain out of the monster's mouth. She went to hit him again.

She felt herself being flung back against the wall. Flicked away like some pest. She came to her feet immediately with the speed her changed DNA gave her and struck again. This time she followed his movements. These monsters like killing. It was all they knew. It made them predictable. Fist stuck fist. The gauntlet and suit protected her arm to some extent, still she felt it snap, broken. The arm of the alien however was shattered. Bones stuck out through its skin in three different place.

Kim kicked at that shattered arm and the alien moved back. She took the time to switch the gauntlet to her other hand. She saw the blood running down the monsters arm and grinned. They were monsters, but without their gadgets they were just flesh and blood. She growled and moved in to hit again. The monster grabbed her and once more flung her against the wall. She rolled to her feet immediately. Her body was a mass of pain, her arm was broken, her head felt like it was split in two. But these creatures had made her a killing machine, so that was what she decided to do. Kill them.

She attacked. The monsters were predictable. She knew how to avoid the arm that came at her this time. She landed another punch in the monster's stomach and it coughed more blood. While it was stunned from the impact she went in for another hit. She was tripped. She rolled to her feet without thinking. The movement a part of DNA now after so many years of fighting.

She realized that somehow she had got between the monster and the direction it had been running in. That was good. It had to get past her to get its gadgets now and that she would not allow. She moved in and avoided the arm again. She landed another punch in the same area. The monster backed back and nearly went to its knees. Kim kicked at its throat but turned it into a feint. Her kick landed on its shattered arm. The monster whirled around, trying to protect it, and Kim grinned a grin that was more like a snarl at the opening the monster had given her. She hit the back of its head with savage force. She heard a crack. And the monster rose to flee.

She had broken its neck, Kim realized, but it was like Ron said. They weren't human. They had a different anatomy. She chased it. The monster suddenly stopped and turned, trying to get past her. She landed another punch to its stomach. It flew backwards and blood poured out of its mouth. She looked up and saw what had made the monster turn and try to get past her. Ron and Shego.

Ron and Shego leapt at the badly beaten monster and flung plasma at it. The two of them became living comets to hurl their flame at the beast beneath their feet. It cried out in agony and, as Warmonga had done, writhered in agony. Then it died.

The three of them looked down at the remains.

"I hope that's the last of them." Ron commented.

"Me too." Shego said. "I don't have anything left.

"Me too." Kim added. Her battle rage had faded and she felt weak. Her suit's power level was at seven percent.

Shego thought of something. "I wonder if there are any more of their ships nearby. What if there's another one around Mars or something and it's now heading our way?"

"I don't think so." Ron answered. "From that navigation display I saw I don't think we got to worry about any more of them for a few years." He looked at her. Her beautiful face was burned. He felt rage. "They will come eventually. But we got their technology to study. We will be ready. Our world won't end up like those two Dr. Betty Director mentioned."

The three headed back to the airlock. They called Wade and waited. Soon they were back at the Middleton hospital. Kim had her arm put in a cast while Ron and Shego had their burns treated. Ron also had a few broken ribs that needed treatment.

* * *

To Kim's dismay, as she left the treatment room she'd been in, she saw Ron and Shego kissing.

"Stop that Shego!" She demanded. Despite her broken arm she dropped into a fighting stance.

"Kimmie." Shego smiled sweetly at the redhead. "You don't want to do that. You might hurt the baby."

"Ba... Ba... Baby!" Kim Possible sat down on the floor again, hard. Eyes bulging.

"Shego." Ron chided her.

"Couldn't resist." Shego tried to sound apologetic. That was one thing she would never have. Children. Her body killed all foreign invaders whether she wanted it to or not. She wondered how the Buffoon felt about that.

* * *

End of Chapter.

Still no pardon for Shego.

2-3 chapters left to go.


	18. Chapter 18

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

_**Drakken Strikes Again,... Global Justice's Decision,... The Party**_

He woke up with her cuddled up against him. His arm around her. He opened his eyes to watch her sleeping form. To take those few brief, indescribable moments to watch her before she too woke up. Her eyes opened and she was staring back at him.

"Morning Buffoon." She said, reaching for him.

"Morning Shego." He replied.

They made love and then showered together as they had each morning for the last two weeks. They quietly talked as they ate breakfast and then Ron left for school after a very long good-bye kiss. Shego kept herself busy around the house for a while and then took her new hovercraft out for a short trip. She had visited one of Drakken's backup lairs and took it. She ignored her beeper and had sent him a message saying she resigned.

Ron walked to school with Kim and Mark. Things were getting back to normal. The slow rate at which the war machines had destroyed buildings meant the damage wasn't too massive. A few buildings per city. A few agricultural areas had also been hit. Food prices would be a bit higher but once again the machines had not done too much harm. Ron recalled the WOW-2 and WOW-3 messages and shuddered. They had been very lucky.

He looked over at Kim. She had changed. She no longer talked about being a normal girl. She was sadder, more depressed. Both he and Mark had tried to cheer her up. So far it wasn't working. She was taking the news that she might or might not be entirely human pretty hard.

He and Wade had done some research looking for others who had been modified like her. They had thought that with others like herself to talk to she might start to see herself as normal again. They had both sworn never to tell Kim what they had found. There were three others like her who had been modified. All three had started mutilating animals by the time they were eight. By the time they were twelve they had moved on to mutilating people. By the time they were fourteen Global Justice had gotten involved. All three were now frozen in suspended animation in the most secure facilities Global Justice could think of. They were considered too dangerous to be taken out of their suspended state for even a few minutes. They didn't want to rule the world like the villains Kim fought. They just wanted to hurt people and in that aspect they very capable indeed. Ron suppressed a shudder.

He and Wade had wondered why Kim had turned out different. They had done more research. They had found that Mrs. Dr. P had had her fetus tested for a variety of genetic disorders. A week after the tests Mrs Dr. P had disappeared from sight for a three week period. It was mostly speculation but records suggested she had met several times with Amy Hall, aka DNAmy. Rather than let her child be born a monster, or abort her, Mrs. Dr. P had taken steps to make sure she was normal. Or, at least, not a monster.

Not that it mattered to him. To him Kim was Kim. They had been through a lot together and in all their years had never let each other down. It wasn't as thought he was normal any more either. It was hard to see but, if one looked close enough, he now had a greenish tint to his skin.

"I wonder how those others turned out?" The redhead wondered out loud.

Ron gulped. He should have figured Kim would eventually wonder that.

"We could try to find out." Mark suggested.

"Why bother? They'll be different people who had different lives. They won't be anything like you." Ron tried to dissuade her.

"I'm still curious." She replied.

"It's not going to change who you are. You're Kim. The same person I've known since pre-K."

"I know that." She retorted. "I still want to know."

Ron sighed. This wasn't going well.

"You know something. Don't you?" Kim accused him.

"KP, look at your arm. The cast is gone. A normal person would have had it on for six weeks. You heal fast. You're strong. You're fast. Most people would give anything to be like that."

"I know that. It's just ..." She shrugged. She looked down at her hands, examining them, as though they were disformed somehow.

Mark immediately took her and hugged her. She hugged him back.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Kim opened the Kimmunicator and turned it on. "What's the sitch Wade?"

"Dr. Betty Director wants to talk to the three of you."

"Oh. About the Lorwardians?"

"Yeah. They've been planning on getting a report from you but they've been busy with the clean up."

"Okay. I got some questions I want to ask her too."

Soon they were at a Global Justice base courtesy of a Global Justice transport tube.

Dr. Betty Director greeted them with a nod. "Thanks for coming." She added.

"Our pleasure, Dr. Director." Kim returned the greeting.

"If you don't mind I would like a complete description of your involvement with the Lorwardians and any ideas you might have on them." She pushed three forms their way along with three pens. She nodded towards three seats where they could work.

The three completed the forms and passed them in. They waited while she reviewed them.

"Only one world?" She asked Ron.

"That is the impression I get. They don't colonize. Actually they can't colonize." He replied.

"Oh?"

"They're psychopaths. But they also got advanced science. They know what would eventually happen. The colony would eventually evolve away from its parent world. Then they would be fighting each other. It's in their nature."

"And you think their total population is less than two billion? We have seven billion people here on earth. Why so few of them?"

"Their size. It means they need three to four times the food a human does. They can't support seven billion. There are other reasons but that's the main one."

"How do we defend against them?" She asked.

"Learn how their technology works and build defenses based on it. Their ships are fast but if I read their navigation display right their home world is anywhere from two to three thousand light years away. It will take them, even with their star drive, twenty years before they pay us another visit. Assuming they send a ship right away. With twenty years to work with they aren't that great of a threat."

"Twenty years?"

"Yeah. Their star drive is fast, but it still takes time for them to travel that distance."

"That's a relief." Dr. Betty Direction said.

"You know Shego helped to save the world too." Ron said.

"And?"

"Well. Shouldn't there be some sort of compensation? Say if she wants to get out of the villain business then remove her name from Global Justice's wanted list?"

"Ron." Kim interrupted. "She's a villain. They can't just take her off their wanted list."

"There's two problems with that suggestion." Dr. Betty Director informed him, ignoring Kim.

"What are they?" Ron asked.

"First of all the system we have for maintaining the wanted list doesn't allow for the removal of names. Once entered it can't be removed. The data can be changed but the name can't be removed. It's hardwired into the system."

"That's pretty extreme." Ron commented.

"It is." Dr. Betty Director agreed. "But to get on that list you need to try and take over the world through the use of a doomsday device not once, but twice. A person's name isn't going to be put on it by accident. It used to be a villain could hack the system and remove their name, or bribe someone to remove their name, or fake their death.. Just three examples. This system was put in place to handle such extreme cases."

"Oh." Ron didn't know what to say. "And the second problem?" He finally thought to ask.

"Shego has been seen stealing for Drakken a few times since the Lorwardian incident."

"She has?" Ron blinked in surprise.

Dr. Betty Director hit a few keys on her laptop and turned it around. On it was the image of Shego breaking into building. She was using a crowbar to tear the lock off a door. Dr. Betty Director turned the laptop back around.

"When was that video taken?" Ron asked.

"Around six a.m. yesterday morning."

"Hrm. That wasn't Shego."

"The camera says otherwise." Dr. Director Betty stated.

Ron knew where Shego had been at that time. He could remember that very clearly. It was the time the two of them woke up each morning. But he couldn't tell that to the head of Global Justice. "To get through that lock she wouldn't have needed a crowbar. She would have used plasma. How many videos do you have of her breaking into a place since the Lorwardian incident?"

"Three."

"And did she use plasma in any of them?"

"Actually she didn't." Dr. Betty Director sat back to think and then added. "Our analysts say it's her. Thought they're also wondering why she isn't using plasma."

Ron backed off. He didn't know what else to say.

Kim stepped forward. "Dr. Betty Director, those others like me. Do you know who they are?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I just want to talk to them."

"Sorry." Dr. Betty Director lied. "We're not sure what happened to them."

"Oh. Okay. Thanks." Kim backed off.

* * *

Shego flew along in her new hovercraft. Briefly she wondered if stealing it counted as a villainous activity. She decided not since she stole it from a villain. Besides Drakken had been neglecting her paycheck for a few months. He had kept saying he had expenses but had never explained them. She wondered what he thought of her resignation.

She looked down at the paper she held. It was an invitation to a birthday party for the Wegos. It's arrival had surprised Shego. For one thing she'd never known Hego had allowed any of them to have birthday parties. He claimed it distracted from their main purpose of defending Go City. And secondly, just how had he known to have it delivered at Ron's place. She read the invitation again. She would go. It was for the Wegos.

She looked at the ground as it passed by. Lost in thought. What would she get them? She had visited them a few times but she really didn't know what they liked yet. And just what was a kid's birthday party like? She'd never been to one.

She sighed and wondered if the Buffoon would go to the party with her. When she visited the Wegos she'd just talked to them. She'd rarely interacted with Hego or Mego. Somehow, she thought at a party it would be different. They would be there.

She recalled how she'd asked the Buffoon about his parents and why they were never home. He'd explained his father was an actuary. He was rarely home because he was visiting various locations and calculating risks for different companies. His mother traveled with him. That was why they'd never shown up when he was in the hospital. His father had been in Norway at the time and the sunspots had disrupted travel. Even Wade hadn't been able to provide transportation for them. Ron claimed he didn't mind, but Shego thought he did. At least a little bit. She wondered if he, like her, minded never having birthday parties.

She thought about Hego. He'd changed. It seems he did remember her real name after all. During all the years they'd had comet powers he'd never called her anything but Shego. It was as if he'd forgotten her real name. But he'd called her Amy several time now in the past few months. And he was throwing birthday parties.

_And_, she wondered, _what am I going to do with my time now that I'm no longer working for Drakken? _The Buffoon would soon be graduating. He would be either a chef or go in for a degree in technology. But just where would he choose to go to? Maybe she would be able to do more online courses. Sitting around in the house just waiting for him wasn't her style as much as she loved him. She would have to find something to do. Something that didn't bring Global Justice down on their heads.

* * *

Beep! Beep! Beep! Everyone in the class turned at the sound of the beep.

Kim opened the Kimmunicator and turned it on. "What's the stich Wade?"

"Shego's just been spotted hitting a warehouse. Thought you would like to know."

"I do. Where is it?"

"Just six kilometers east of your school. I'll download further directions to your Kimmunicator when you're in the car."

"Thanks Wade." Kim looked up. "I'm really going to have to start driving to school."

It was a five minute run back to her house to get the car and soon after they were outside the warehouse. Kim was hoping Shego hadn't finished stealing what she had come for and left already. They were just in time. Kim spotted her leaving the warehouse and jumped out, ready to fight.

"Stop Shego." She ordered.

Ron flooded his system with strength and speed boosts. He felt them work in conjunction with his comet powers. He rushed past a surprised Kim and grabbed Shego by the wrist. He began to squeeze.

Shego kicked at him and he twisted her arm around to stop her. He increased the pressure on her wrist. She didn't seem to feel any pain at all from it. It was like fighting a synthodrone. He squeezed harder. Green goo burst out from her hand and she slumped to the ground.

"Synthodrone?" Kim muttered, looking puzzled. "Why would Drakken be making synthodrones in the form of Shego?"

"No idea." Ron truthfully admitted. "But that explains why Shego wasn't using plasma. It wasn't Shego."

"Not this time." Kim admitted. "But we can't be sure it wasn't her any of those other times."

"It wasn't." Ron assured her.

Kim looked at him. "Okay. I'll admit it's pretty unlikely. If it had been Shego she would have used plasma." She sighed. "And I will be sure to mention that to Dr. Director."

"Thanks KP." Ron smiled at her. He wondered what Shego was going to think of the new synthodrones.

"I don't think Shego's working for Drakken anymore." Mark looked down at the remains. "If she was he wouldn't need to use synthodrones to steal."

"Maybe." Kim admitted. "Or maybe he's got her on a more important job at the moment." She kicked the remains. "Wish Global Justice didn't keep letting her escape." Kim down on the ground and sighed.

"KP?" Ron asked, worried.

"Kim?" Mark asked, also worried.

"It was just a game to her. All those fights. She could have beat me easily." The redhead muttered. She recalled the amount of power her arch-foe could really summon and shuddered.

Ron shrugged. "Shego doesn't want to hurt anyone. She used what she could within those limits. But wasn't that one of the rules you set when you started fighting villains. That you wouldn't hurt anyone?"

"Yeah. But I'm not a villain. Why would a villain set such a rule?"

"Because she's human."

"But..." Kim sighed. Her view of the world was really getting shaken a lot these days.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Kim opened the Kimmunicator. "What is it Wade?" She asked, tiredly.

"Big trouble Kim." Wade held up a small robot.

"The toys Bueno Nacho is handing out to kids these days. What about them?"

"They got cybertronic technology in them. I just scanned the wreckage of the Middleton Space Center. The Lorwardian war machine didn't leave much behind but I was able to check the debris and the cybertronic technology is gone."

"Gone?" Kim became more alert.

"These toys if they receive the right signal can grow into giant fighting machines. And they've been distributed all over the world." Wade added.

"How many were distributed?" Kim asked.

"Around twenty million."

"And how big are the fighting machines they grow into?

"Around fifteen feet tall." The super genius replied.

"Okay. That is big trouble." Kim admitted. "Here we just got rid of a thousand Lorwardian war machines and some idiot is about to let loose twenty million more war machines." She sounded pissed. "Do any of these villains have any common sense?"

Wade shrugged. "All I know is we've got to stop that signal from being transmitted. The Lorwardian war machines might not have done much damage but the military forces that tried to take them out got hit pretty bad. They're in no shape for another fight. Certainly not with twenty million fighting machines like these."

"Any idea where the transmitter is?" Kim asked.

"Not yet." Wade admitted, sounding apologetic.

"Scan the Bueno Nacho locations." Ron interrupted. "They're the ones distributing the toys so they're linked somehow."

"I've thought of that Ron, but it will be a few hours before I'm able to scan them. No satellites free. Sorry."

"What about the one Jim and Tim launched?"

"It burned up in the atmosphere last night. They didn't get it into a stable orbit."

"You know, this sounds like one of Drakken or Dementor's plots. It's not something someone like Monkey Fist or DNAmy or Killigan or any one of the other villains would come up with." Mark commented.

"True. So it's either Drakken or Dementor." Kim agreed.

"If it's Drakken then odds are the main transmitter will be near Middleton. The guy is always focusing on it. He sees you as his arch-foe and wants to beat you."

"True." Kim agreed with him again.

"Is the Wade-bot capable of doing such a scan?" Ron asked.

"It would be if I could get it a kilometer or two high. No way of doing that."

"Call the weather station, see if they got a weather balloon available." Ron suggested.

"I'll try that." The image disappeared.

"Meanwhile we will check out Bueno Nacho." Kim said. She stood up.

The three headed for her car. They stopped. Kim recalled that last night she and Mark had ate at Bueno Nacho. She'd taken the offered toy, planning on giving it to the tweebs. It was still in the car. Or had been anyway. The car wasn't there any more. It had just stretched, the windows cracking and popping off. Then it had split in two. Left in its place was a fifteen foot robot that sort of resembled the toy she'd left in the car.

"My car." She said, in a disbelieving tone. "My car."

"KP, I don't think this is the time to be worried about the car." Ron said. He lifted a hand and threw plasma at the robot. It bounced off. Plasma proof. "Okay, that settles it. Only Drakken makes his toys plasma resistant." He lifted both hand and threw more plasma. It didn't quite bounce off, but it only left a small burn mark. A mark that disappeared in seconds.

The robot lifted its arms and fire shot out from them. The trio scattered. It aimed at Mark and Ron ran close to the machine, firing more plasma. The machine switched its attention to him.

_Large, fast, agile, and plasma resistant, _Ron thought as he dodged the attacks coming his way. _Not good. _

Kim leapt at the machine and, with her gauntlet set to ten, hit it. It fell backwards, a hole punched in it. It fired thrusters from its legs and got itself back up right. The hole started to close. She hit it again and it went down again. Another hole in it. Once again it fired its thrusters and righted itself. The first hole was now repaired and the second was closing as well. It swung both arms, blazing fire, at her. She flipped away from the machine. Dodging.

Ron rushed up and threw plasma into the hole before it fully closed. It didn't seem to bother the machine much. It did turned its attention on him. He jumped away and nearly slipped in some mud. He dodge the fire from the machine and thought, _it can't be that simple. _He reached down and picked up some mud and flung it over one of the eyes of the machine. It raised one arm, trying to wipe the mud away. It couldn't reach. Ron threw more mud at the second eye. The machine stopped attacking them. It turned around as if searching. It's arms tried to clear the mud and failed. It turned around and around faster. Then it exploded.

The three of then stopped to stare at the wreckage.

"I can see why the mud stopped it from seeing, but why did it explode?" Mark asked.

"Drakken doesn't want anyone to analyze them so he put in a self-destruct to prevent then from being captured." Ron explained.

"My car." Kim said.

"But still, who would have thought mud on the eyes would take out something like that." Mark hugged Kim who was staring what remained of her car.

"That's Drakken for you. Always missing the obvious." Ron patted Kim on the shoulder.

"My car." She sobbed.

"I think I saw a store in that direction." Ron pointed.

"Store?" Mark asked.

"Water guns filled with paint I think should be easier to use than mud." He explained.

Kim took one last look at her car and the trio headed off towards the store. Soon all three were equipped with water guns large enough to carry a fair amount of paint.

Another one of the diablos, as Mark said the toys were called, charged them as soon as they left the store. It was immediately met with three streams of paint that blocked its sight. It spun around a few times and exploded.

'"Effective." Mark commented.

Then they were swarmed. Forty of the machines moving in formation down the road spotted them and charged.

Ron ran at them, blinding as many as he could. Mark he knew would be in trouble if many targeted him. He twisted and dodged the fire coming his way. Enough of it came close enough to burn some flesh. The diablos he blinded started spinning and exploding. He ran between them blinding more. Fortunately they were large enough they got in each other's way.

Kim had the done the same mental calculations and charged as well. She flipped on top of one of the diablos and jumped around blinding them. She didn't quite have Ron's speed but she had picked a better location to fight from. She blinded one after the other. As she did so they spun around and exploded.

It wasn't enough. Eight of them targeted Mark and he was forced to put all his efforts into dodging. He would soon have been seriously wounded if a strong hand had not reached down and plucked him out of harms way.

Seeing the tiny dolls grow into huge fighting machines Shego had decided to find the Buffoon. Knowing him he would be in the midst of it all somewhere. She had located him by simply flying high enough to see a large section of the city and flying around, looking for the largest number of the machines she could see. She had arrived just in time to see Mark about to be swarmed under by eight of the machines. She had dropped the hovercraft down and pulled him in before sending it skyward. She had already located the Buffoon and saw that while he was under pressure from the swarm he wasn't in any serious danger.

"Hope you don't mind if I used this." Shego simply stated and took the water gun from the hands of Princess' boy toy. She hopped down on the head of one of the eight and started taking them out. _That's Drakken for you, _she thought. _A water gun taking out a giant war machine because he missed the obvious._ She aimed and fired until all eight were gone.

"Hey Buffoon. Hey Princess." Shego greeted the two who had just wiped out thirty-two of Drakken's fierce war machines.

"Shego!" Kim yelled. "What have you done with Mark?" She had seen him in trouble and had been trying to reach him. Then he had disappeared.

"Oh him." Shego pressed a button and the hovercraft floated down to her. A door opened and Mark appeared. His face was white.

"Mark." Kim rushed to him, hugging him. She was sobbing onto his shoulder. She had been sure she'd lost him.

"Thanks." Mark said, looking over Kim's shoulder at Shego.

Shego shrugged. She turned to Ron and asked. "So what have you been up to other than wiping out Drakken's latest army?"

Ron matched her shrug. "Not much. What have you been up to?"

"Just flying around thinking. By the way, you want to go to a party tonight?"

"Sure." Ron answered.

"What!" Kim yelled, turning around. She kept her hand on Mark though, needing the comfort of his presence.

"It's nothing big Princess. Just a party." Shego explained.

"But..." Kim sighed. She would talk to Ron later. "What's Drakken up to this time?" She demanded.

"No idea."

"We just finished saving the world from the Lorwardian war machines and now he cooks up twenty million to replace them and you have no idea?" Kim yelled.

Shego froze. "Twenty million of those? Just how did he manage that?"

"Cybertronic technology." Ron explained.

"Oh. He finally got his hands on it?"

"Yeah." Ron answered.

Ten more of the machines charged down the road. Ron, Shego, and Kim took them down in seconds. All three charging in, dodging the fire, while blinding them. Mark knew enough to keep back.

"We need more paint." Ron looked at the level of pain in his gun. It was nearly empty.

"Want a ride?" Shego offered.

"Sure." Ron walked into the hovercraft.

"Ron!" Kim cried again.

"Fastest ride in town Kim." Ron called back.

Kim sighed and climbed aboard, keeping her eye on Shego. Mark climbed aboard as well. Shego hopped in and soon had them at a paint shop where they refilled their guns.

"So what now?" Kim asked, eyes still on Shego.

"We go to Buneo Nacho and see what's happening?" Mark suggested.

"We could call Wade and see what he's come up with." Ron suggested.

"Wade and then Bueno Nacho." Kim agreed with both suggestions. "What about her?" She pointed at Shego.

"What about me Princess?"

"How are we supposed to plan with Drakken's sidekick standing right beside us?"

"Oh that. I resigned."

"You resigned?" Kim didn't believe her.

"Yeah." Shego shrugged. "Had more important things to think about than my next heist."

"Seems Drakken misses you." Ron interrupted the two.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. He's got synthodrones that look exactly like you."

Shego was quiet for a long time. "So there are synthodrones going around, committing crimes and I'm getting the blame for it?" That seemed very counterproductive to her desire to keep a low profile. And with Drakken there was no telling what those synthodrones would do.

"As if that would bother you." Kim stared at the villainess.

"Actually it does Princess. It's one thing to be blamed for the things I do. Getting blamed for something I didn't do is something else entirely. Those are machines, the synthodrones. They don't have human judgement. Something could go wrong and I could get blamed for someone getting killed. That's a whole different story from stealing something."

Ron pulled out his Kimmunicator. Soon he was connected to Wade. From the image he appeared to be under a desk and one of the diablos was in the background punching holes through the wall.

"Ron. Get to Bueno Nacho and take down their antenna." The image disappeared.

"Ride?" Ron asked looking at Shego.

"Sure. Hop aboard." She climbed in after him. Kim hurriedly followed with Mark behind her.

The trip took less than a minute. The cloaked craft flew over the heads of hundreds of the diablos. Kim thought it was a good thing they didn't have to fight their way through. If only Shego could be trusted. This was different than the Lorwardian invasion. There she had been in the same position as Kim, defending the planet against a foreign invader. Here it was Drakken who was the enemy, her boss.

Shego hovered above the restaurant. "The memories." Shego said as she scanned for the antenna.

Kim wondered what memories Shego could have at such a place. This was where she and Mark and Ron made memories. It wasn't the type of place she expected a villainess to make memories.

"That's the antenna." Shego said, pointing at the sign.

"What do we have that can take that out?" Kim wondered.

Shego shrugged. "Silly question. You got two people aboard who can throw plasma." She opened the hovercraft door. She threw down a few balls of plasma and the sign disappeared in flames.

Ron looked out over the city. "It seems to have taken care of the diablos." Where once legions of the machines had marched there were now a few toys.

Kim opened her Kimmunicator and called Wade. His image appeared on the screen. He seemed pretty shaken but otherwise okay.

"That was fast." The super genius said. "Was pretty close there. They nearly wrecked all my computers."

"You get a scan of the Middleton area?" Kim asked.

"Yeah. Give me a second. Hope it wasn't on one of the destroyed disks." The super genius moved around on the screen, putting his workspace back in order. "Found it." He exclaimed. "I'm downloading the coordinates to the Kimmunicator now." He typed for a few seconds.

"Got it Wade. Thanks." Kim told him.

"One last thing Kim. I did a full scan of the area. You got maybe five minutes before he's ready."

"Five minutes to get that far?" Kim gulped. She looked at Shego.

"Piece of cake Princess."

"Who was that?" Wade asked.

"We better get going Wade." Kim told him. She signed off without telling him about Shego.

The hovercraft took less than two minutes to cover the forty kilometer distance. It would have been faster but Shego kept low to avoid any radar systems Drakken had up. The craft was cloaked, but it was Drakken who had designed the cloak.

The four exited the craft but Kim hesitated. "Can Mark stay aboard?" She asked Shego.

Shego shrugged and nodded. "Sure. Not like he can do much with the controls locked."

"Kim..." Mark started.

Kim turned around and kissed him. "I'll fight better knowing you're safe." She told him.

Ron looked over at Shego. He walked over and pulled her into a kiss. She was more than happy to comply with the request.

"Shego." Kim yelled as she turned around.

"What Princess? Think you're the only one who should get to kiss someone?"

"But not Ron." Kim stated.

"Why not Princess? Besides he kissed me."

"He what?" Kim turned to stare at Ron.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time." He told her. "Three minutes are up. Two left before Drakken rules the world."

Kim sighed. "Lets go." She headed towards what looked like a large antenna. It was surround by two dozen of the diablos.

Once again the diablos tried to swarm them. They failed. Both Kim and Shego jumped to the top of one of them and started blinding them from there. Jumping as needed. Ron ran through them, dodging and twisting, to avoid their fire. It took seconds before the machines all began to spin and explode.

_For war machines, _Ron thought,_ they are definitely lacking something._

Ron and Shego stood together in front of the giant antenna. They both tossed plasma at it. Nothing happened.

Shego sighed. "He's plasma proofed it and even full out it would take four or five minutes to take it down. Two to three with the both of us."

"Control room then." Ron said. He ran for the door. Shego and Kim followed.

They entered the building with no idea which way to go. Shego shrugged and blew holes in three of the walls along with the floor and ceiling. She looked in through each hole to see if it led to the control room. One of them did.

"Thirty more second and I will rule the world." Drakken was ranting. He turned to look. "Kim Possible!" He exclaimed. Then he saw Shego. "Get her Shego."

Shego blew up the control panel he was standing in front off.

"Shego? What are you doing?" Drakken demanded.

"I resigned. Remember?"

"But Shego! We were seconds from ruling the world." The man sobbed.

"Who told you you could make synthodrones that looked like me?" Shego's eyes blazed.

"Well see. Their fighting style was based on yours so when the computer processed the data it used your image." He explained. He backed away from the raging demon.

Shego lit her hands. Drakken ran. He got two steps before Kim tripped him.

"Shego, help!" He cried out.

"I resigned. Remember?"

"But the world?"

"I don't want the world any more." She answered.

"But..." Drakken didn't know what to say.

_I almost believe her_, Kim thought to herself. _In fact I think I do believe her._

Shego disappeared after a good-bye kiss with Ron. Kim glared at that. Global Justice agents soon rushed in through the door.

Ron watched as Kim gave her report. She was thorough and honest. She gave Shego credit where credit was due. As he'd known she would. When she finished he asked to speak to Dr. Betty Director. This incident had been serious enough that she had taken Kim's report directly.

"Ron." Dr. Betty Director greeted him.

"That's twice now she helped save the world."

The woman nodded. "I know. But she's tried to take over the world nineteen times."

"So no second chances? Ever?" Ron asked.

Dr. Betty Director thought for a bit. "That's not possible. No one can remove her name from the wanted list. But I can modify it so she's the lowest priority risk that the list allows. If she stays out of trouble then that should be enough to keep us from coming after her. The longer she stays out of trouble the smaller the chance she will see us."

"Thank you." Ron told the woman.

"I'll also speak to the countries she's wanted in. I can have her removed from those lists. Of course if she gets into trouble she can go back on them just as easy."

"I appreciate that."

Dr. Director Betty nodded. "Tell her to drop by the Middleton base some time. I want to speak to her in person. I personally guarantee she will be allowed to leave."

"I will." Ron said.

* * *

Shego opened the door of the Go Tower. Not that she needed to be the one to open it now. The Buffoon could do it too. He was standing beside her.

Walking in she saw the main area had been decorated. It looked pretty nice. The Wegos where running around, as they usually were. They saw her and swarmed into a group of twenty, all calling out. "Sis."

She smiled as she was nearly swept off her feet. She hoped the gifts she and the Buffoon had brought were okay. Video games the saleswoman at the video store had suggested.

Then they turned and swarmed around Ron. It seemed they had a thousand questions on how he'd gained comet powers. Some of the questions, it seemed, involved sex. She wondered how he would answer those questions.

"Glad you could make it Amy." Hego spoke.

She nodded at him, not knowing what to say. "When did you start having birthday parties?" She finally asked.

"After you left." Hego shrugged. "They're just kids so... I'm sorry you never had one Amy. It was stupid of me."

Shego looked around and saw several other kids running around or just standing. "I never had any friends to invite anyway. Still it would have been nice, I think."

Hego looked down.

Shego considered what the Buffoon had told her. She would be placed lowest on the wanted list. Global Justice would never bother her so long as she kept out of trouble. It was a second chance. She looked at Hego. He was still a cartoonish hero, but he too had changed.

"So what does one do at a birthday party?" She asked.

* * *

End of Chapter.

Yeah. It seems Drakken finally managed to implement his Diablo plot.

Shego has completely reformed, resigning from Drakken's employment.

She has gained what amounts to some freedom. Global Justice accepts that she has reformed but will be keeping a close eye on her.

She also accepts that maybe Hego should be given the same chance.

Next chapter will be whether or not Kim accepts,rejects, or partially accept, the situation.


	19. Chapter 19

**I do NOT own Kim Possible**

* * *

_**Shego Visits Global Justice,... Job,... Ron Visits Kim Possible  
**_

Shego entered the Global Justice base. Dr. Betty Director had suggested she visit. Had guaranteed she would be allowed to leave. So she was doing just that. She wondered why the head of Global Justice would want to see her. There had been a few visits to her cell when she had first been captured in her role as a villain. That had been around four years ago. The woman had tried to speak to her and Shego had just ignored her. In her role as a hero she'd spoken to the woman once via phone and once when she had visited the Go Tower. She had seemed nice on both occasions.

Shego wondered how things would have been different if she had approached her with the blackmail problem back then. If she had reached out and trusted someone. But of course she'd been young. She'd spent several years thinking herself so smart and so strong. She had been so sure of herself. She been stronger than anyone she knew other than Hego and even he she could beat if she really wanted to. And she'd been so much smarter than everyone she knew. That had been her downfall. When the time came, she hadn't known who to trust, or even how to trust.

She waited by the entrance for someone to escort her. To her surprise it was the kitchen worker who'd brought her her meals the last time she was captured. "First prison guard, now escort duty?" Shego smiled at her.

The girl swallowed. Obviously nervous. There was no force field between her and the plasma firing super villain this time. "This way." She managed to get out.

Shego followed. The base was nearly empty. "Base is still understaffed I see. What's going on?"

"I'm not sure I'm allowed to say." The girl squeaked.

"Relax." Shego told her. "If I was to do anything too drastic I would have to burst out again. That would be a pain. And it would get Global Justice after me once more. That would be an even bigger pain."

They entered the office of Dr. Betty Director. "Morning." The woman greeted Shego.

"Morning." Shego answered back. Voice neutral. She still wondered what the woman wanted.

"I'll get the coffee." The girl said and took off.

Dr. Betty Director nodded towards a seat and Shego took it.

"Enjoying your freedom?" She asked Shego.

"Very much so." Shego replied. It was true. She and Ron now went grocery shopping together. Something she hadn't dare risk before. It was nice. Just walking through the aisles looking at the various items, discussing what to get. She could do the normal day to day things that she hadn't been able to do for a long time.

"You know when you were nice to that girl our analysts pegged you as being a lesbian."

"Wh... What!" Shego exclaimed. Her eyes going wide.

"Yeah. Global Justice definitely needs better analysts." Dr Betty Director grinned at her. "They even came up with a plan to have her seduce you."

"No thanks." Shego managed to get out.

"The girl, Miranda is her name by the way, wasn't too pleased with the idea either. She told Will Du if he wanted you seduced he could dress up in drag and do it himself."

"How did he take that idea?" Shego had to ask.

"Not too well." Dr. Betty Director admitted.

"Wish I could have seen his face." Shego tried to picture it.

"Oh. That's easy enough done. Nearly every Global Justice agent has a copy of the video." Dr. Betty Director brought up the video on her laptop and hit play. She turned it around so Shego could watch.

Shego watched the scene play out. First the decision by Will Du that she was a lesbian and then calling Miranda in and _ordering _her to seduce Shego. _Pig, _Shego thought to herself. Miranda had refused and Will Du had started to try and coerce her. Shego found out that the girl, Miranda, actually was a lesbian. Will Du it seemed couldn't understand why Miranda was refusing. Finally she told him to dress in drag and do it himself. Everyone in the room had burst out laughing. Will Du had practically exploded. The expression on his face made the whole visit to Global Justice worth it to Shego. She found herself laughing.

"Of course the copy the agents got only contains the last few scenes." Dr. Betty Director added. She wondered what the analysts would think of a laughing Shego. In over four years all the footage they'd gotten of her she had never been laughing.

"That alone makes coming here worth it." Shego admitted.

The door opened and Miranda entered. She carried a tray with two cups. "Raspberry flavored coffee." She said, setting one cup before Shego. Her eyes flickered for a second, looking at the laptop screen, and she blushed.

"Thanks." Shego told her. She took a sip. "Delicious." She added, smiling at the girl.

Another cup was placed before Dr. Betty Director who also thanked the girl. The girl rushed out.

"So, if it wasn't a cute girl who made you change your ways, what was it?" Dr. Betty Director got to the point.

Shego shrugged. She knew that question was going to be asked at some point. She wondered how much of the truth she should tell. Getting the Buffoon in trouble wasn't on her agenda. "I guess I got my soul back." She finally said. It was the truth. When she'd burned that girl she had thought herself a soulless monster. It had been the Buffoon who had given it back to her.

Dr. Betty Director thought for a few seconds. "What made you lose your soul in the first place?"

"I burned someone." Shego admitted.

"Someone who didn't deserve it?" Dr. Betty Director guessed.

"A complete innocent." Shego said. "She'd never done anything to hurt me. I burned her anyway."

"Why?"

Shego found herself telling Dr. Betty Director the whole story of why she'd become a villain.

"But then something happened. You said you got your soul back?" Dr. Betty Director looked at the woman before her. "We knew something was strange when we investigated Cal Ryan. There was plasma residue in the apartment and the way the window had been forced open suggested it was you. We couldn't figure out why a villain like you would be with a drug dealer like him."

Shego recalled Cal Ryan. One of the ones who had drowned the Buffoon time and time again at Camp Wannaweep.. One of the ones responsible for his years of nightmares. She felt plasma flicker at her fingertips. She hid her moment of weakness by pretending she was warming up the cup of coffee. She took a sip. Only the Buffoon could make a better cup.

Dr. Betty Director noticed the moment of weakness. The loss of control and the attempt to cover it up. "Then other things started to make us take notice. You were nice to Miranda. You even cooperated with Kim Possible to handle the Lorwardians. But what really made us take notice was when you helped stop the Diablo plot. For it to succeed all you had to do was stand aside. You didn't."

"Why is the base so empty?" Shego asked. She wanted to change the topic.

"First there are a thousand Lorwardian war machines to guard. Then there's their ship to investigate. That was bad enough. Now there are twenty million dolls scattered worldwide with cybertronic technology in them. We just had our budget for field agents doubled. I wish it had been quadrupled." Dr. Betty Director sounded tired.

"Big job." Shego shuddered. Twenty million weapons like the diablos in the hands of children. Collecting them must be a nightmare.

"Fortunately we managed to convince Drakken to build us a scanner. It can detect their cybertronic technology from a ten kilometer radius. That helps."

"How's he doing?" Shego wondered.

"Pretty good. He got a better cell in exchange for building the scanner."

"That's good." It was, Shego thought to herself. For all that she'd mocked him Drakken was an okay guy.

"Want the job?" Dr. Director Betty asked?

"Huh? Job?" Shego was confused.

"Leading one of the teams collecting the diablos. Sure we know simple paint can destroy them." She paused at that as if shaking her head in wonder. "But we want skilled agents to lead the teams. Ones with good reflexes who know how to react quickly. The dolls are dormant but they can still be activated. We had three of them reactivate already when a radio station beamed a certain signal. Too many such incidents and Global Justice agents will start to get hurt unless they got a team member with them who can react fast to take the machine down."

"I'm still a villain even if I'm low on the list." Shego pointed out.

Dr. Betty Director shrugged. "I'm aware of that. We've worked with villains before when the need arose. Did you know we planned to offer you a job when you graduated high school?"

"No." Shego was stunned.

Dr. Betty Director grinned. "You went bad two days before we sent the letter. You have a rare combination. High intelligent along with enhanced abilities. I would have also said common sense but you went and burned that girl and ran off so..." She shrugged. "Next time come to me. I will see what I can do to help. Would have back then."

"I thought of that too late." Shego admitted. "I'm no hero." She added.

"We don't want heros. We want good agents who can get the job done without messing up."

"Where would I work?"

"Any place you want to."

"Middleton then. I accept." Shego wondered just what she was getting herself into. But if she was useful it mean an even smaller chance of Global Justice knocking on her door. And she needed something to do. The Buffoon had decided on Upperton College for technology courses. He had taken a weekend job as an apprentice under a professional chef. She would have a lot of free time. Middleton was an area she knew and in her hovercraft the trip back and forth would only take a minute or two.

"Welcome aboard." Dr. Betty Director smiled and help out her hand. Shego took it.

* * *

Ron was in the backyard of the Possible house. He was teaching Jim and Tim, Kim's twin brothers, how to improve the solar array for their next attempted satellite. The bulky one they'd used on the one that had burned up had been five square meters. At fifty percent efficiency that would have given them a little over three kilowatts to play with. He was developing an inflatable array that would be a hundred square meters. The spray on solar cells were only forty percent efficient but the extra area meant they would have fifty-two kilowatts to play with. A drastic improvement. Wade was on the Kimmunicator doing some computations for the new configuration.

He would point out things to the twins and let them work, along with Wade, while he made trips to the kitchen where he talked with Mrs. Dr. P and discussed recipes. It had been a while since he'd been over and they had a lot to discuss. He was happy. He was doing the things he liked, cooking and building devices, with people he loved.

Kim came in the door with Mark in tow. She saw Ron and smiled. It was rare that he came over lately. "Hi Ron." She greeted.

"Hi Kim. Hi Mark." Ron greeted the two back. He studied Kim. She seemed happier lately. She no longer seemed to wonder if she was a monster made by the aliens. Part of that he guessed was that she had, once high school ended, stopped the missions. That had been only four days ago but the change was there. She had been burning out. First she had seen him nearly die. Had stood by what she thought was his deathbed for eight days. Then she had learned she'd been changed in the womb by psychotic aliens. Then she had thought she'd seen Mark die under the onslaught of eight of Drakken's diablo machines. It had been enough for her. If she had continued, Ron knew, she would have burned out. She was as mentally strong as she was physically, but she was only human and needed a break.

He continued to study her. It was making her nervous.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing." He considered the missions they'd been on. She was superb on them. Fast and quick acting. Once she'd rested, had healed, she would need something to challenge her. It was the way she was. "You should reconsider joining Global Justice after college." He told her.

"Why?"

"You would make a good leader in any field Global Justice offers. It won't be like the missions. It won't be a couple of kids like me and Mark and Wade backing you up. You would have a real team with real resources." It would he thought, fulfill her need to be challenged. At the same time he knew Global Justice took good care of its agents. She wouldn't be allowed to burn out.

"I'll think about it." She said.

He could tell she didn't mean it. He also knew she eventually would. But that wasn't the real reason he had come over.

He looked over at Mrs. Dr. P. "You know, you've been like a mother to me since I was four years old. You treated me as your own."

"I'm honored you feel that way Ron." She smiled at him. He was, to her, not just like one of her own, he was one of her own.

"I've got something to talk to you about if you don't mind listening?" He told her.

"Of course Ron."

Ron turned to look at Kim. "And you too Kim."

"Of course Ron."

"Privately, if you don't mind Mark?" He looked at Kim's boyfriend.

"I need to get over to the dojo anyway. I got a class to teach." Mark looked at Kim. "See you later tonight okay?"

"Okay." Kim smiled back at him.

The twins ran in. "We're finished with the solar array. Now the magnetic propulsion." They chorused together and waited.

"Not right now." Ron told them.

"But..." They started.

"Later Jim and Tim." Their mother told them.

They marched off mumbling to each other.

"This isn't a very private area." Mrs. Dr. P pointed out.

"And they probably shouldn't hear what I got to say." Ron added.

"My room then." Kim suggested.

The three marched in. Kim and her mother sat on the bed while Ron looked around. He hadn't been in here in quite a while. When Kim and Mark had started dating it seemed rather weird to spent time with Kim here. He saw she still kept the pictures of him and her when they were young. They were on open display on her dresser. He studied them. _So many years, _he thought.

"The memories huh?" Kim told him.

"Yeah. So many." He looked through the pictures some more. The later ones were of him and Kim along with Mark. He wondered if someday there might be four people in some of the photos. If she would ever accept Amy as a friend. He turned around to see both Kim and her mother patiently waiting. "Mrs. Dr. P." He started. "You're a brain surgeon so you know some psychology right?"

"It's sort of required." She admitted. She smiled at him, encouraging him. This she could tell was serious.

"I probably should have told you this when I first got back from camp. I tried telling Kim at the time but we were kids, just nine years old."

"Camp Wannaweep?" Mrs. Dr. P asked.

"Yeah. The nightmares I had since then. Well, had until recently anyway."

"Until recently. So you had nightmares about that place from the time you were nine until you were what, seventeen or eighteen?"

"Yeah."

"How often?"

"Every night."

"Ron why didn't you tell me sooner?" Mrs. Dr. P was both worried and furious.

"I sort of got used to them." He saw Kim chew her lower lip, staring at him, pale faced. He knew she thought she had let him down. "KP, we were kids. It's not even why I wanted to talk to you. It's just something that leads up to it."

"The nightmares." Mrs. Dr. P demanded.

Ron told them of the monkey gang. About the repeated drowning. He saw the faces of both women go white.

"Who?" Kim demanded. She was standing, the Kimmunicator out, ready to call Wade to find them.

Ron looked at her. In this situation it was all she knew to do. Act. That was Kim.

"It doesn't matter any more KP."

"But Ron."

"It's taken care of KP. Neither of them will be hurting anyone for a long time."

"What happened to them Ron?" Mrs. Dr. P asked.

"Two of them are in a mental hospital. The other three are in prison. They won't be out for a long time." He told her.

"And the nightmares are the drownings?"

"Yeah. Funny thing is until recently I just thought they were nightmares. Turns out though in the nightmares when I dreamed I was dying my breathing and my heart stopped too."

"You mean not just in the dream. Your breathing and heart actually stop?" Mrs. Dr. P was looking at him.

"Yeah. For a minute or so each time."

"I want to see you in the hospital Ron, to run some tests okay?"

"Sure. But you're not going to find anything." He smiled at her. "All those tests you ran the last time I was there. They would have found anything wrong."

"Still. I want to rerun them." She insisted.

"Okay." He submitted. It wouldn't take too much time and it was better than having her worry.

Kim thought for a second. "How do you know they stop in real life?"

"Amy." Ron told her.

"That's someone you're seeing?" Mrs. Dr. P asked.

"Yeah. We've been dating for quite a while now."

"So long as it isn't Shego." Kim told him. She grinned at him.

He could tell the grin wasn't real. What he'd just told her had affected her. To know he had been dreaming of dying night after night for years. And she felt responsible for not having listened all those years back. "Actually, Amy is Shego's real name." He told her.

"What!" Kim jumped up. Then she sat down on the floor a stunned looked on her face. She rubbed the top of her head.

Ron looked up. There was a dent in the ceiling where Kim had hit it. He sat down on the floor across from her.

"Ron..." She started.

Ron held up his hand. "Let me speak okay?"

She nodded.

"You're my friend KP. Nothing is ever going to change that. But she _is _a part of my life now and _is_ going to remain so for, I hope, a very long time. You don't have a say in that. It's between her and me."

"But she's a villain Ron."

"Used to be a villain KP. Seems Global Justice trusts her enough now to give her a job."

"Global Justice? Shego? A job?" Kim blinked.

"Shego. She's the one who sat with you while Ron was in the hospital?" Mrs. Dr. P asked.

"Yeah." Kim admitted.

Mrs. Dr. P looked at Ron. "And she's no longer wanted by Global Justice? She's no longer a villain?"

"Sort of. She will never be off their list. It's sort of like parole. They wouldn't have given her that chance if they didn't trust her."

"And you've been seeing each other for how long?"

"Around a year and half. Not dating that long but we've been spending time together for that long."

"She's given up crime?"

"Yes."

Mrs. Dr. P sat back to think. She knew he was right. Global Justice would not have given the woman a second chance if they didn't trust her. And she had seen the look on her face when Ron was in the hospital. The despair when she thought he was dying. The hope when she knew he might make it. The sheer joy when he was awake. The way the two had sat together. She was forced to admit the woman loved him. And the evidence suggested she had changed her way. "I approve." She finally said. "That's what you wanted isn't it Ron?"

"Mom." Kim screamed.

"Yes, Mrs. Dr. P. We're in a relationship regardless of what others want or think. But as I said, you're like a mother to me. What you think is important."

"Bring her over some time." It wasn't a request. She wanted to met the person her son was dating.

"I will."

"Mom." Kim screamed again.

"Kimme." Mrs, Dr. P started. "What do you think will happen if I disapprove?" She didn't give Kim time to answer. "He will still date her. He didn't come here to get my permission. He wanted me to approve of her. If I disapprove he won't bring her here. He will spend holidays like Christmas with her and not here as a part of my family. He will spend less time here. And I am selfish enough that I don't want that. I want to hold on to Ron, my son, as long as possible. So long as I think the girl he's dating is good for him, loves him, I will approve. But." She looked over at Ron. "If I think she's bad for you I will disapprove and try to shake some sense into you."

Ron nodded.

She got up. "The hospital Monday. I will be running quite a few tests. And now I better make sure the twins aren't going to launch the house into orbit rather than that satellite." She left.

Ron turned to look at Kim who stared back. They sat across from one another.

Kim thought of what her mother had said. Saying no wouldn't stop them. Just make him stay away at times when they should all be together as a family. She sighed. "I guess I should have seen this coming. I mean it was so obvious."

Ron grinned at her. "True." He admitted. Kim was pretty oblivious at times.

"We fought Drakken a number of times in the last year and a half." She stated.

"The same rules applied." He told her. " She fought at a level that ensured she wouldn't hurt anyone. The same as you did. I did my best to back you up and stop Drakken. There wasn't any conflict between supporting her or supporting you."

"The matchbox?" She asked.

"She's human, the same as everyone else. She can lose her temper too. She didn't hurt you even though she thought you'd destroyed something important to her."

"A matchbox important?"

"Anything can be important to a person. A picture is just paper." He pointed at the pictures on her dresser. "But they're important. It's what something symbolizes that determines its value in a person's heart."

Kim sighed. She had already made up her mind. But it was so hard. She looked down at her hands. There could be only one answer.

She had watch Shego too, sitting at Ron bedside, expecting him to die. Had seen her expressions. The despair, the hope, the joy. The total willingness to die to avenge him. She knew the woman's love for Ron was true. Not just some passing crush.

Kim twisted her hand around and looked at them again. She knew the woman didn't want to rule the world any more. When she'd said that Kim had believed her. She had found something more important than mere power.

They had fought together against the Lorwardians. It had seemed so natural there with Shego at her side. After so many years fighting each other they had known exactly how each other fought. How to work together. Each other's strengths and weaknesses in a fight.

She spread her fingers and looked at them. She recalled that the woman had saved Mark. That she, Kim, owed her in a way that could never be repaid.

"I guess with you catching comet powers you're pretty close?" She recalled what Mark had said about Ron probably being in a serious relationship. She would never have guessed it was Shego.

"Pretty close." He smiled at her. "But it takes more than that to catch comet powers. People could exchange blood with her and still not get them. In fact it probably would kill them."

She twisted her hands around as thought she could peer down within them and see the genes within. _Most people would see me as a monster, _she thought, thinking of her altered DNA. _My mother accepts me, but that's to be expected. Mark accepts me. Thankfully. Ron accepts me. He accepts everyone the way they are. But Shego also accepts me. Sort of. She doesn't think I'm a monster. She treats me pretty much the same._ That was a second one she owed the woman.

She looked back up at Ron. "If she treats you wrong I'll hurt her, comet power or no comet powers."

"Oh. And do I get to hurt Mark if he treats you wrong?" Ron asked her.

Kim froze. "That's different." She insisted.

"No it's not. Tell you what. If you think it's something I would interfere with you and Mark about then come and talk to me."

Kim nodded. "So it would have to be pretty serious then? Like if he was hitting me?"

"Yeah. We will still have each other's backs. But we will also have to give each other space. Like I learned how to give you and Mark space."

Kim nodded. "My parents are throwing me a graduation party this weekend. You coming over?"

Ron looked at her.

"Yes. I mean her too."

"Okay then."

"Guess I better tell mom to get three or four cakes though. Between the two of you..." She grinned at him.

"Three at least." He admitted. He had always been a big eater and with the comet powers it was a bit extreme.

"But..."

"But what?" Ron asked.

"Do you think you can get her to stop calling me Princess. And to call Mark Mark."

"I'm pretty sure that can be arranged."

"Ron?" Kim looked down at her hands again.

"Yeah?"

"Those nightmares. You said they stopped?"

"They have."

"Good. I'm sorry. I was so excited you were back from camp all I wanted to do was play."

"Not your fault KP. I always knew Mrs. Dr. P was there and I never told her either. They're gone now."

"She helped you get over them?"

"Yeah. She even located one member of the monkey gang members and investigated him. Found out he was a drug dealer and called the police on him."

"Really? She did that?." That was a third one she owed the woman then.

"Yeah."

* * *

Ron was lying besides Shego, running his fingers through her hair. He had talked to her and she'd agreed to call Kim and Mark by their proper names. She'd insisted though that she was so used to Princess and boy toy she might forget once in a while. He figured at first it would be more than once in a while. But that eventually things would sort themselves out.

"I know it's a long ways off before we have any but I wonder what our little ones will be like." Ron had a dreamy expression on his face.

Shego turned around. "Ron. I told you it's impossible for me to have kids."

"I'm pretty sure there's a way around that problem. I already got an idea for two ways it might be possible."

Shego blinked. "Really."

"Yeah. By the time we're ready I'm sure we will be able too."

She snuggled in closer. "That would be nice." She admitted. "Would they have comet powers too?" She wondered.

"Yeah. Would be hard for them not to. It's in both our cells."

Shego pulled him closer. They'd already made love once that night but she figured that news was worth celebrating. She tried to imagine what they would be like. Their children.

* * *

End of Chapter.

Shego has a job. After trying to take the ten thousandth doll/robot from the fingers of a child she's going to really understand what the phrase 'like taking candy from a baby' means. Poor her. She is also opening up and trusting people, like Dr. Betty Director.

Kim has accepted Shego fully as a part of Ron's life. But she did demand some respect in return - for her and Mark to be called by their proper names. She also learned things about him that she didn't know before

Thanks for reading and reviewing.


End file.
